Soul Nexus
by JadeSeraph
Summary: Ginny Weasley was not all right after her first year - she pushed away everyone and everything that was important to her in her guilt and depression. But then, someone literally walked into her head and life and changed everything. A HG Epic, Harry PoV.
1. Our Little Secret

**Disclaimer: **I'm not J.K. Rowling, and I will never be, just as Harry Potter will never belong to me. I only get enjoyment and reviews from writing this story.

* * *

**Introduction**

(adapted from _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_)

The rest of the final term passed in a haze of blazing sunshine. Hogwarts had worked its way back to normal with only a few, small differences - Defense Against the Dark Arts classes were canceled (owing to Professor Lockhart's recent memory loss) and Lucius Malfoy had been sacked as a school governor, so Draco was no longer strutting around the school as though he owned the place. These events made Harry and Ron extremely happy, though Hermione was slightly put out at the cancellation of exams on top of Defense classes.

On the other hand, Ginny Weasley was no better than she'd been all year. If anything, Harry saw less of her, and now even Ron was starting to worry about her. She hadn't said anything to either of them since the aftermath of the Chamber, and they'd only seen flashes of her brilliant red hair in the hallways. Hermione said that she'd cornered Ginny in the dormitory one night, only to have the younger girl pale and run in terror. Harry wished he could get to the redhead to talk to her; he knew all too well the guilt of nearly getting your friends killed. Just last year he'd dragged Ron and Hermione through a series of traps to get to the Philosopher's Stone.

Too soon, it was time for the journey home on the Hogwarts Express. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny got a compartment to themselves, but aside from the first few moments, none of them laid eyes on the youngest Weasley. Harry was starting to suspect that she was hiding from him, but a quiet conversation with Hermione told him he wasn't the only one she didn't want to see.

Even with Ginny's absence, the five made the best of the last few hours before the holidays. They played Exploding Snap, set off the very last of Fred and George's Filibuster fireworks, and practiced disarming each other by magic. Harry was getting very good at it, much to the others' dismay. The ride passed quickly, and the train was approaching King's Cross when Harry remembered something. He pulled out his quill and a bit of parchment, which he ripped in two before scribbling on both of them.

"This is called a telephone number," he told Ron. "I showed your dad how to use one last summer - he'll know. Call me at the Dursleys', okay? I can't stand another two months with only Dudley to talk to."

"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" Hermione said as they got off the train and joined the crowd thronging toward the enchanted barrier. "When they hear what you did this year?"

"Proud?" Harry laughed. "Are you crazy? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious..."

So they walked back through the gateway to the Muggle world, Hermione looking outraged at the Dursleys, Ron sniggering over Harry's comment, and Harry himself wondering (though he had no idea why) if Ginny Weasley was going to be all right.

**1: Our Little Secret**

If there was one thing the Dursley family of Number Four, Privet Drive was not at all happy to see, it was Harry Potter and his return to their home. But for reasons unclear to the young wizard, they allowed him in and gave him a place to stay. Of course they'd picked him up from the train station, and of course they'd treated him better than he usually was under the watchful eye of Molly Weasley at King's Cross, but he'd expected to be turned out as soon as they arrived home. He'd expected to be rejected and forced to live somewhere else during the summer holidays, but tonight he found himself back in his old bedroom staring up at the ceiling and wishing summer was over. Harry was very unusual in that respect - he was the only student he knew of that wanted to stay at Hogwarts over the summer, if given the opportunity. Well, almost the only student. Inevitably, an image of Tom Riddle flashed through his mind, one he forced away quickly and reminded himself that the diary was destroyed. Harry now had a great appreciation for basilisk venom.

Thoughts of the diary naturally led him to Ginny Weasley, whom he'd rescued from a certain death at the end of last term. He remembered the Valentine card she'd sent him, as well as the get-well card she'd brought to him during his recovery from the rogue bludger. A smile crossed his face as he remembered the butter dish she'd found her elbow in during his first visit to the Burrow; though a note of sadness passed as he remembered how she couldn't seem to work up the nerve to talk to him. It reminded him of his hero status, and how people always saw him for what he'd done and not for the person he was. That was one thing he loved about Ron and Hermione - they weren't fazed by his fame (Ron was green with envy, but Harry didn't mind that so much) and they treated him as normally as possible. All of the Weasleys seemed to be that way, now that Harry thought about it. Sure, their mother had fussed over him more than he might have liked, but it wasn't because he was Harry Potter; it was because he was Harry, Ron's friend from school.

All these thoughts running around in his head made it hard for him to sleep. He hadn't slept well the past couple nights, though it wasn't because of nightmares as he might have expected. He didn't know what was bothering him these days. He just couldn't seem to fall asleep, and when he finally did, Aunt Petunia was already rapping on his door to wake him and tell him to make breakfast. Perhaps that was why Uncle Vernon allowed him back - he wanted a servant for the summer. Harry could almost hear his two best friends' outrage at the thought, but he ignored them and turned over in his bed, which made a loud squeak. It didn't matter what they thought. Dumbledore said he had to come back here for part of the summer, and that was that, regardless of how anyone else might feel.

Sometime in the night, as the very early hours of morning approached, he finally drifted off to sleep and was confronted with a dream he'd never had before.

_The chamber was just as Harry remembered it - dark, damp, and thoroughly disgusting - and if this was a dream, then it was the most realistic dream he'd ever had. He was standing in the final chamber, the one in which he battled the basilisk and destroyed the memory of Tom Riddle forever. Except now the corpse of the twenty meter long basilisk was nowhere to be seen. Harry looked around wildly and noticed the body of Ginny Weasley on the floor before his eyes locked on the most hated wizard of the last fifty years. Tom was already taking shape into a ghostly form, his eyes fixed on the young redhead that was giving him his power. Harry yelled and ran towards the sprawled form of the redhead in front of him, attempting to pry the diary from her arms, but his hands went right through her as if he wasn't even there. Tom paid no attention to his presence, as if Harry didn't exist. Soon, Tom began walking toward the shadows just as Harry heard a voice from behind him._

_"Harry?"_

_He whirled, recognizing the voice even before he laid eyes on her. He'd only heard it a precious few times in the last year, but somehow he'd never forgotten it, even though the longest thing she'd said to him were the sobs of apology after being awakened from her dance with death._

_"Ginny?"_

_They both wore confused looks and there was a long silence before either of them could think of anything to say. Ginny was the one to speak first, if you could call it that. It was more of a whisper, and as Harry felt the doors behind him slide open, the memory paused._

_"What are you doing here?"_

_How was he supposed to answer a question like that? "I...don't know. I think I'm dreaming, but I've never had this one before, and it's never seemed so real."_

_Her eyes never left him, and though her mouth was moving, her body was as frozen as ever. "You are...but this is my dream. I have it every night."_

_Harry blanched, wondering how she could stand to dream about this every night and keep her sanity. Even he didn't dream about his parents every night - he at least got some rest. "Why is it paused then?"_

_Ginny looked around as if she hadn't noticed. Her confusion deepened, and then a small breath escaped her as she saw Harry's younger self standing in the doorway with his wand in hand, frozen as he was taking a step into the inner chamber._

_"I usually wake up about now...I'm not sure why. I think it's because I don't remember anything after this. Tom knocked me out just before you came in."_

_Harry turned to look at himself, and then fixed his eyes on Ginny again. He was surprised to hear her talk this much - usually she turned red and ran away by now. Perhaps she knew she couldn't run, or perhaps it was the fear the dream invoked, but she was talking to him like he was just Harry, and not the boy she had an absurdly huge crush on._

_"I'm glad. I don't want you to see the fight."_

_Ginny blinked, and then moved for the first time. She took a step toward him, her breathing deep and controlled. "Are...Are you real?"_

_Harry blinked also, wondering what to make of the question. "I think I am. I mean, I was trying to go to sleep in my bed and now I'm here. I..." He would have said more, but the memory started up again as younger Harry stepped into the chamber. It took a few moments, but he finally put the pieces together - his presence in Ginny's dream was allowing her to see what happened from his point of view and not just hers. She was going to see everything._

_They watched in horror as Harry summoned Fawkes, battled the basilisk, and finally had his arm speared by the Basilisk fang. Ginny cried out, losing control of her tears and wiping helplessly at her face as her cheeks became rivers. Harry felt a sinking in his heart and wanted to comfort her, but he could only watch as Fawkes used phoenix tears to heal his wound and he destroyed the diary once and forever. The memory paused again as younger Ginny was stirring, and the only sound that could be heard was older Ginny's sobs that echoed in the chamber._

_Suddenly, Harry rose and left the inert Ginny for the real one, wrapping his arms around her and whispering to her that it would be all right, that he wasn't dead, and that he didn't blame her in the slightest. All of his thoughts about how she must be feeling came back to him, but he shoved them aside and held her as she slowly melted into his chest, wrapping her arms around him as the memory started up again and Harry saw himself comforting the younger Ginny as he comforted the older, the situations oddly mirroring each other. As the younger pair left, Harry wondered what would happen to the dream. He heard a loud knocking noise, one that startled both of them, but Harry knew exactly what it was._

_"I'm about to wake up Ginny. You should write me. I'll be here for you to talk to if you want."_

_She nodded, but before she could respond the dream faded as Harry felt the real world pull him back to his miserable summer._

------

All Harry could think about the next day was his encounter with Ginny. Nothing, not even Vernon yelling about how horrid the shed looked after he painted it, could get his mind off of Ginny. It was the weirdest dream he'd ever had, and though he'd never had it before, it was one that scared him the most. It had seemed so real, and so detailed. When he dreamed of his parents, it was always flashes, he hadn't been able to see himself, and there was no one else dreaming with him. That was the weirdest part. Dreams were supposed to be a private matter, not one your best mate's sister could randomly walk into.

No. Harry shook his head to clear it. Ginny was not his best mate's sister - Ginny was Ginny, and that was that. She was her own person, and Harry was ashamed to realize that he had failed to acknowledge that all year. Granted, she wasn't around much so that he could get to know her, but she had been there enough he should have recognized her. Maybe if he'd paid more attention, maybe if she'd had someone to talk to she wouldn't have needed the diary and Tom wouldn't have been able to possess her.

Lonely. That had been the first thing he should have prevented. From the moment he saw her stand up for him in the bookshop he should have sought her out, tried to be her friend, and tried to make a difference in her life. Being the youngest sister to six brothers had to be hard on her, and she must have felt even more pressure than Ron upon entering Hogwarts without being the only girl, whether anyone paid attention or not. Instead, he'd ignored her, treated her only like his best mate's sister, and that had been a mistake.

Two days later, Harry began to wonder whether Ginny was going to write. He'd put down the long delay to the Weasleys' family owl (Errol was barely hanging in there these days) but nothing came. He was sitting on the stairs thinking of the girl in question when the phone rang and he heard his uncle's voice come up the stairs.

"Vernon Dursley speaking."

Harry sighed. He didn't know who it was, but it wasn't like he'd had any interest anyway. It was probably one of Dudley's friends inviting him over for tea, which they would promptly skip to go bully some of the smaller kids on the block. However, his uncle's next words caught him completely off-guard.

"Who is this?" His tone was sharp, and Harry guessed he was glaring around the room angrily. He crept down the stairs to get a better look at his uncle, peering around the banister to see the red tinge to his face that signaled an anger bout coming on. Whoever was on the phone, Harry decided they must be good people if they made his uncle angry within five seconds.

"How did you get this number?" By now, Vernon's voice was sharpening into a blade and he was rapidly becoming redder and redder. Harry's respect for the caller increased every second.

"There is no Harry Potter here, you must have gotten the wrong number from your _friend_." He spat the word nastily as if it was foreign to his mouth. "Never call this number ever again or I will report you for harassment. Good day." He slammed the phone down and looked around with a murderous glint to his eye. "BOY! Get down here NOW!"

Harry paused, wondering if it would be a good idea in terms of his personal safety to show himself at the moment. He could almost hear Voldemort egging him on, waiting for his uncle to kill him and finish the job he started twelve years ago. Harry slowly came off the steps and stepped into the living room, putting on what he hoped was his most innocent face. "Yes, Uncle Vernon?"

"**How dare you give this number to people like - people like YOU!** **And if you EVER bring a **_**girl**_** to this house, EVER, you will regret it as long as you live!**"

With that, Vernon turned purple and huffed into the kitchen, where he could be heard cursing everything that had any remote connection to magic, up to and including Mickey Mouse. Harry had decided that Hermione had called and been polite, but probably had made the mistake of talking to his uncle about Hogwarts when he heard his uncle bellow Ginny's name out along with the rest of the cursing. There was only one way he could have heard that name, and it took all the self control in the world for Harry to keep from drawing his wand and hexing his uncle into oblivion. Hermione would have been able to handle the rudeness, Ron would have been baffled but wouldn't remember for very long, but Ginny was completely different. She was so fragile right now that she was probably in tears, crying next to the phone and refusing to tell anyone what was wrong.

Harry stormed upstairs, pausing to put a hole in the wall beside the bathroom with his fist before slamming his door and letting his own tears start to fall. Harry had cried a fair amount over his nearly thirteen years of life, but this was the first time he'd cried out of anger. The hot, salty tears seared his cheeks as he thought of Ginny and how unfair this all was, and how he just wanted to comfort her and protect her from the abuses of his uncle. He'd learned to deal with it, to shrug off the prejudice and the hate, but Ginny had known nothing but love from her family, and that someone could be that rude had to hurt her.

Harry didn't question how he knew all this, he just knew that his heart was doing the thinking for him, because his brain had shut itself down to keep from letting the anger boil into action. He lay out on the bed, paralyzed, before one thought was allowed to cross his rage-filled mind.

_Ginny!_

------

She was crying, not for the first time in her life, but definitely the most she had in a long time. She was out in her father's shed, a small piece of parchment wrinkled in her hand, though as she now knew, it was useless. She didn't have the wrong number; she'd carefully pushed every button on the fellytone - no, telephone - exactly as Harry had written it. She'd made sure of it. Not only that, but she faintly recognized the voice that had been short and angry with her, more angry than she'd ever heard anyone in her entire life, save for the time her Mum caught the twins trying to get Ron to swear an Unbreakable Vow. She had quietly watched with her mother at the train station as Harry had been taken away by those awful relatives of his, his uncle's voice barking commands to him like he was a disobedient house elf. That was the voice that told her to never try to contact Harry ever again.

Her tears flowed in what seemed like multiple rivers down her cheeks as she held her head in her hands. All she wanted to do was talk to Harry, to find out if what they'd shared was real, and maybe to make a friend. He'd seemed sincere in his offer to be there for her, to talk to her if she needed it. And she did, desperately. She couldn't, wouldn't talk to any of her family - they had to be so disappointed in her. Hermione had been the closest thing Ginny had to a friend this past year, but even she wasn't that close, and she'd been petrified this past year because of Ginny.

She dissolved further into her own tears, dreading the moment that someone came out to look for her. She'd fought with Ron (much to her brother's confusion) about who got to call Harry first, and finally she'd just nicked the number from his room and dashed out to the shed. She didn't feel like answering Ron's questions about why she wanted to talk to Harry, or his pointed jabs about not being able to talk to him in person due to her crush. Those had hurt the worst - after a full year, Ginny realized that she'd been stupid about the Boy Who Lived. The dream had shown her that. If she'd just stopped to talk to him, if she'd just fought with her embarrassment long enough to see what he was like, maybe he would have talked to her and been her friend. But she'd never given him that chance. She'd put her elbow in butter dishes, knocked over porridge bowls, sent him stupid valentines that he didn't even like, and even dragged him down to the Chamber of Secrets to rescue her after all that. It was a wonder he even wanted to talk to her.

_Ginny!_

The voice echoed through her mind, but it was clear that it was not her own. She knew that voice like the back of her hand; it was Harry's. She looked up and around the shed, seeing nothing there and certainly not his emerald eyes gazing into her. As the voice echoed, two things happened. First, a _presence_ slipped into her mind, making its faint existence known in the back of her head, like something that had always been there but she hadn't noticed before. When she felt for it, it was elusive, but she could always catch it and feel its faint place in her thoughts.

But that was nothing to her next thought. She realized as his voice echoed in her head that he was angry. He was angry at her. Of course he was - after all the pain she'd put him through in the chamber, she'd had the nerve to call his house and get his uncle angry with him too. No doubt he knew who had called by now, and he was angry at her for screwing up his life yet again. The thought of causing him suffering pulled at her heart as her brain shut down, her tears coming harder and faster as she fisted her hands in her hair and pulled hard enough to cause a dull ache in her scalp. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Her next actions weren't based in conscious thought, but more instinct than anything else. She stood up quickly and ran back into the house, crying the whole way and thankful that the rest of the family was enjoying a lunch outside in the backyard. She ran all the way to her room and slammed the door, collapsing on her bed and crying into her pillow as small arms wrapped around it. The parchment in her hand only served as an amplifier to her helplessness, a reminder that everything she tried to do right always turned out horribly wrong.

------

It had been a week since Ginny's ill-fated phone call, and Harry couldn't be more miserable. He worried constantly about her for no reason at all, wishing he could have known and could have gotten to the phone before his uncle had. He knew it was pointless to wish he could go back in time, but all he wanted to do was protect her from the anger, to save her as he had in the chamber, and...even hold her, as he'd done in the dream.

The dream. That had changed everything. After that one night, he saw her differently, thought about her differently. At first, it had just been instinct, his desire to keep people out of harm's way and shoulder everything himself, up to and including Ginny's personal demons. But after that phone call, it had become more personal. Harry realized that the only thing that would break him from this funk that had held him for the past week was a letter from her, telling him that she was all right, that she hadn't been broken by his uncle. God help Vernon if he'd hurt her. The last week had seen the birth of a creature in his chest, one that was still in its infancy but had an adult-sized portion of righteous anger on its side. It wasn't hard for Harry to know what that creature was meant for. It was meant to protect Ginny in a way that he'd never had to protect Ron and Hermione.

He knew what Hermione would say about it. She'd say that it's only natural to feel this way after last term, but that he'd have to stop protecting Ginny just because she was younger and had a bad experience with the diary. She'd no doubt quote Dumbledore's words back at him. "Older and wiser wizards have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort." (though she, too, would be stupid about the name) He regretted ever telling her Dumbledore had said that - his inquiries about Ginny's condition in the last of the term had always been put aside by that quote and saying that she'd get over it eventually. He'd stopped asking, but that didn't stop him from caring.

Ron's response would trouble him even more, if he caught wind of Harry's feelings. He'd put it off and say Ginny would bounce back, that she would be herself again soon. He would probably get irritated at Harry's continuing concern about his sister and wonder why he was interested. Harry didn't feel like explaining why he was; it was just natural. It came to him like he'd cared about Hermione when she'd run off to the girls' loo after being called a nightmare by Ron.

Suddenly, Harry felt a _presence_ slide into the back of his mind. He didn't know exactly how he felt it, or why, but he knew it was there as sure as he knew his hand was attached to his arm. The next thing he heard was Ginny's soft, scared voice floating into his head from nowhere, crystal clear while still sounding terrified.

_Harry?_

He looked wildly around, searching for the source, but he knew it was futile. The voice had come from inside of his head, and even though he was alone in his room, he doubted the Dursleys would have let her get much farther than the front lawn. It took him a few moments to think straight, but he connected the _presence_ to Ginny's voice. Feeling a bit weird and wondering if he was going mad, Harry thought at the presence in the back of his mind, voicing a single word back.

_Ginny?_

The effect a single word could have amazed him. As soon as he thought it, the presence in his mind solidified, seeding itself in the back of his head and getting comfortable, if that was possible. Suddenly, the room around him faded and Harry knew he was inside of his own mind, gazing out at the inner workings of his thoughts. He had never seen himself like this before - it was like a black space with a trillion little things floating around, and though he could still see his bedroom, he could also feel the thoughts in his preconscious floating around him. The moment he concentrated on one, it would light up, the _thing_ guided by his thoughts into projecting masses of images and words around him, but as soon as he stopped thinking it would darken and join the masses of objects again, replaced by whatever he'd stopped thinking of.

He thought of them as objects because there was nothing in the real world he could compare them to, and yet they all looked familiar. No two thoughts were exactly the same, though he did spot one that made him smile. A snitch flitted among other thoughts and darted behind a particularly large one (when Harry concentrated on it, memories of his first trip through Diagon Alley poured out), but he caught it on its way out. The snitch fluttered its wings and glowed softly, emitting images and feelings to Harry's consciousness about his Quidditch strategies, almost like his own little playbook of seeker moves. Harry smiled as he watched himself catch his first snitch, interrupted only by a soft voice once again.

_Harry, is that you?_

She still sounded scared. His changing focus set the snitch free as everything darkened and Harry's eyes locked on Ginny's presence in his mind. He'd expected a replica of her to be talking to him, for her to be sitting on a couch in the back of his head sipping pumpkin juice, but it was nothing like that. Her presence was signified by a faintly visible red sphere, exactly the color her hair was in his memory. He knew instinctively (this was his own mind) that he couldn't open it like he had the snitch, but he tried talking to it.

_How...how are we talking to each other? _His voice was weak, but somehow it didn't seem to matter at the moment. For all he knew, this could be perfectly normal in the Wizarding world, but something in his gut told him that it wasn't. Talking in your head to someone miles away was not something that seemed to fit into the laws of magic.

_I...I don't know. I've never heard of anything like this. _The insecurity in her voice was enough to scare him - if she hadn't heard of something like this, it definitely wasn't normal. Harry's mind faded from his vision, but he was still aware of her _presence_ in the back of his mind. It took a little effort, but he managed to direct his next words to that place that was hers.

_So...it's...not normal to have voices in your head talking to you?_

Wait, hers? Since when did Ginny Weasley have her own place in his head? The only one who seemed to have that honor was Voldemort, and he more used it as a summer vacation home rather than a permanent residence. Harry wasn't sure how he knew all these things (felt them, really) about his and Ginny's new connection, but they seemed right.

_I don't think so, but maybe Mum just hasn't told me about something like this yet._ Her voice lightened, and there was a note of amusement to it. Harry smiled, though to anyone in the room it would have looked rather odd to just break out in a smile for no apparent reason.

_Why wouldn't she have told you? Is this kind of thing dangerous?_

There was a long pause before Ginny responded. _I don't know...I don't think so._

Something about her voice set off alarms in his head, something that warned him that she was close to breaking down. He'd seen enough girls cry (mostly Hermione after a row with Ron) to know when he needed to get away, but he knew he couldn't leave Ginny now. He wouldn't risk breaking her any farther than he already had.

_Is everything all right?_

There was an even longer pause, during which Harry supposed she was thinking about the answer. That didn't bode well for him, if she was wondering what to say. The truth would always come instantly, if she wanted to speak it.

_I'm sorry for getting you in trouble...I didn't mean it, I swear! _Her words came out all in a jumble, as if she was talking very fast and was very nervous. He couldn't see her and their connection wasn't any more than a telephone call would reveal, but the alarms in his head got louder as she grew closer to breaking down.

_It's not your fault, all right? I'm sorry my uncle was mean to you - he's like that to me too. I really wanted to talk to you, but he wouldn't let me._

A moment passed, and when she spoke again, Harry could hear the tears in her voice. _I didn't mean to get him angry. I'm sorry for causing so much trouble for you, I really don't mean it. I just don't know where else to go._

Huh? Didn't she have her family? Harry shoved that thought aside, thinking of what Ron said about having five older brothers. _Ginny, you're not causing problems, I promise. I'll always be here to talk to, especially if this connection lasts. I should have tried to talk to you last year, but I didn't want to make you uncomfortable._

Harry knew he'd hit a nerve with that, because she was silent for a long time. He was willing to give her all the time she needed; the last thing that she could handle right now was more pressure. _I'm sorry about that too. I was being stupid and idiotic and-_

_Ginny! Stop it! _Harry immediately regretted cutting her off so sharply, but there was no turning back now. _Please stop apologizing. I forgive you for whatever you've done, just remember that. I just want to help you._

It was a testament to how out of sorts Ginny was that she didn't try to tell him off for thinking she needed help. _I'm scared Harry. I don't know what to do anymore. Every time I try to do something right, something bad happens._

Harry sighed, glad that she couldn't see the frown on his face. She sounded so innocent, and yet she was scarred by the works of Voldemort at such an early age. She wasn't so unlike him; he'd lost a lot more than she had, but the experience was still fresh in her mind and she was old enough for it to really sink in.

_If you want a friend, I'll make sure that I don't turn out to be a mistake._

She was silent so long that Harry thought she'd decided to stop talking altogether. He was just pulling out his _Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2_ when her voice floated into his head again.

_I don't know what to say to that, Harry. I've never really had a friend that wasn't a brother before._

Harry blinked. Surely she'd met other Wizarding folk her age, and she must have found friendship in her roommates at Hogwarts? Even if they didn't spend every second together like he and Ron did, Harry still considered Dean, Seamus, and especially Neville among friends. _Do you want to be my friend?_

Her response was almost immediate. _Of course!_

Harry smiled at that, closing his eyes and letting her little red ball float into his vision again. It was easier to find this time, now that he knew how to look, and now that he had some vague idea of what his mind looked like. It seemed a little less transparent, and the color was a bit brighter than he remembered. He hoped that was a sign that she was getting happier. _Then now you have a friend that's not a brother._

This time, he was sure there was a smile in her voice. _All right then. I have to go see what Mum wants. I'll talk to you later?_ Her voice tilted up at the end, signaling a question.

Harry nodded, even though he realized afterward she couldn't see him. _I'll be here.._

_------_

It was a few hours before Harry heard Ginny's voice again. The sun was setting and he'd just been ready to come in from weeding the garden when he heard her, causing him to pause and sit against the side of the house. She sounded better, almost happy even._ Guess what Harry?_

It took him a moment to find the connection and send a thought back, but it was faster than the first time he'd done it. _What?_

_Dad won 700 galleons in the Daily Prophet Galleon Drawing. We're going to Egypt to see Bill._

Whatever Harry had been expecting, it wasn't that. For one, if the Weasleys won 700 galleons, he'd expect her to be a lot happier (though there were traces of excitement in her voice), and if he was going to Egypt on a vacation, he'd be ecstatic. _That's great! _He couldn't think of anyone who deserved a large pile of gold more than the Weasleys. He would have given them the money if they'd asked for it, but he knew better than to offer. _When are you leaving?_

_Tomorrow. That's what Mum wanted - we've been packing since I last talked to you. _She paused, then her voice filled his head like a sad melody again. _I hope this thing between us doesn't have a limit. We're going to be gone for ages, and I really want to be able to talk to you._

Harry smiled weakly in spite of himself. _I can't be that fun to talk to, really. Life here is really boring. I get up, work, eat, and go to bed._ He tried to take the bitterness out of his voice, but it didn't seem to work.

_I'm sorry Harry. You know if you could, I'd invite you with us._

Harry wondered if Ginny knew he couldn't leave the Dursleys though Dumbledore's orders, or if it was a family trip that he couldn't come on because he wasn't a Weasley. Either way, it didn't help him. _Don't worry about it. Just make sure to have fun for me so you can tell me about it and make me feel all jealous_. This time, the bitterness was gone and a playful tone was in.

_You know I will. And Harry?_

_Yes?_

_It's really nice to have someone to talk to. Thank you._

Harry sighed. He knew exactly what that was like. _You're welcome Ginny._

_I have to go take a shower and get ready for bed - Mum says we're getting up early for the trip tomorrow._

_Okay Ginny. Good night._

_Good night Harry._

The rest of the night passed quickly for once, and he was in bed, under his covers, and doing a Transfiguration essay before he realized the sun had fallen. Suddenly, the homework seemed to come easy for him. He knew it had something to do with knowing that Ginny was all right, but he didn't know why it had bothered him so much when she wasn't. He shoved the speculation out of his mind before turning back to his book to put the finishing touches on his first ever completed summer homework assignment.

-------

He didn't hear from Ginny all the next day, though he'd expected that. She was likely very busy with preparations for the trip; he had no clue how wizards traveled internationally, but it was likely that it wasn't any easier than for Muggles. So instead of talking to Ginny, Harry enjoyed the silence that the Dursleys gave him (minus Dudley's hateful teasing), and found some stability in the chores that he did. He'd long since learned to deal with and even come to like some of the work that Petunia was constantly on him about; he had to, otherwise he would have gone mad.

Because he had to do his homework in the dead of night, Harry didn't get to bed that evening until around two in the morning, which wasn't bad until you considered that he was woken at five in the morning by an insistent calling.

_Harry!_

He groggily rubbed his eyes, cursing Ginny quietly and verbally, rather than risk the chance of accidentally having her overhear him. He turned over and put his face into his pillow (which was all lumpy and not very comfortable) before answering her.

_What?_

_Are you all right? You didn't answer, and I thought something happened to you._

Harry groaned. _Ginny, it's five in the morning. What do you think I was doing?_

There was a silence, and then Ginny's apologetic tones found him. _I'm sorry Harry, I forgot about the time difference. It's seven here. I'll let you go back to sleep._

_No, don't. I'm awake now._ Harry let his eyes fall shut, wishing for a moment he could fall back asleep. _How's your trip going?_

_It's all right, I guess._

Harry noted the lack of excitement, but he suspected that would be something that he would have to deal with. She'd seemed really torn up about the last year, and they hadn't even talked about that yet, as much as Harry wanted to help her. She would have to come to him on her own about that, and when she did, Harry knew he had to be ready for her. But for now, they spent the next few minutes talking about Egypt and seeing Bill again. For the first time, Ginny told Harry that there was someone else in the room and if she didn't respond immediately, that was why, but she didn't stop talking to him. Harry found that he was slightly pleased by this fact, other than that it brought up a question that made him think.

_Ginny, have you told anyone about our connection?_

A long silence followed, and then her answer was more of a question than a statement. _No?_

Harry wondered whether that was a good thing or not. He knew what they had was special, and that he didn't want anyone to take it away from them, but he also wanted Ginny to be comfortable. _Do you want to?_

Again, there was a long pause in which she must have been thinking, or perhaps talking to whoever was in the room at the moment. _I don't know. Not really, but look what happened with Tom._

Harry cringed at the comparison, but was quick to respond. _I promise I won't try to take over your mind and make you do things you don't want to._

_I know you won't Harry, it's just...I don't know. It's hard._

_I understand Ginny. You're welcome to tell the whole world about us if you want, but I'll leave it up to you. It's not like I have anyone to tell._

He could have sworn he heard her giggle as she responded. _That sounds funny, but I'm not going to either._

Harry nodded to himself. _Then this will be our little secret?_

_Our little secret. _Ginny agreed, sounding oddly excited about it. _Now you go back to sleep, okay? I'll talk to you later._

_Okay. _Harry was fast asleep before he heard her response, if there was one.

------

The next few weeks passed without incident, though Harry found that communicating with Ginny through thought-speak (as they termed it) was nearly effortless. They still didn't keep it up on a regular basis (he saw it more as a daily phone call), but it was nice to talk to her at night before she went to bed and sometimes early in the morning. Over time, Harry saw a distinct improvement in her mood, and by the week before his birthday, she sounded almost happy.

He knew it was a cover, but he didn't call her out on it. He'd watched her slowly build a blanket for herself using the excitement of the trip to Egypt, so by the time she was done, no one (besides Harry) could tell that she was anything but herself. Harry was sure her family assumed that she was getting over her first year, but she still slipped every now and then when talking to him that broke the illusion. Still, he didn't want to cause a confrontation and he knew if she wanted to talk about it she'd come to him.

In any case, they had plenty to talk about. Both Egypt and the ancient tombs were infinitely fascinating subjects, so much so that Harry was seriously considering the job of a curse-breaker. Before, when he'd picked his new courses he'd just signed up for the same ones as Ron, but now he actually might have something he wanted to do in life. Ginny shared his excitement and made sure to ask Bill all kinds of questions about his job, which he'd answered happily. His suggestion for Ancient Runes and Arithmancy for electives at Hogwarts worried Harry, but he knew Hermione had signed up for those and if he really needed help, he had someone he could count on. Ginny had suggested talking to McGonagall before the term started to see if he could get his courses changed.

_I think it would be a lot of fun to be a curse-breaker,_ Ginny announced after a particularly long day. Harry could hear the sleep in her voice, but he was happy to get to talk to her.

_Me too. I didn't know there was so much involved and you got to see all those cool things. I bet your brother loves it._

_He does. You should see him when he gets going on some discovery or some complicated series of wards. I don't think he would stop even if someone cast a silencing charm on him._

Harry laughed at that. _Wards? What are those?_

Ginny assumed a tone that Harry loved to hear her in. She was great at explaining things he didn't understand, and while she was patient, she didn't look down on him for not knowing about magic. _They're like defenses...I think of them as walls to keep people out. That's why Hogwarts is so safe – Professor Dumbledore did the wards himself._

Harry thought that made a lot of sense. _So are there wards around every magical building, or are they really rare?_

_They're not really rare, but the kinds of wards Bill works with are. He has to do all kinds of things to get around them and take them down._

_That sounds really exciting._

_It is. You have to be careful, because it's really dangerous, but I want to a curse breaker when I grow up. Bill reckons that I might take his job. He didn't seem too happy about it though._

_You're going to be a curse breaker?_

_I want to be._

_Well, then I guess we can be curse breakers together, huh?_

He could almost feel her voice lighten. _I'd like that._

Harry heard all about her disappointment when Mrs. Weasley hadn't allowed her to go into the pyramid with mutant skeletons - something that gave Harry hope that she was finding some of herself again. He'd learned a bit about her true personality in the last few weeks, even if it was dampened by her depression, and he'd decided that Ginny Weasley was quite a likeable girl. She was fiery, passionate, and stubborn at times, but always had the best interests of people at heart. That's why she was so bothered by the diary and everything to do with it. In one late night discussion, she'd confided to Harry that she didn't want to talk to anyone about it because she felt guilty and couldn't face them. Harry had hinted that she could talk to him, but she didn't bite. They'd been talking about Harry's frustration with publicity, which led to Gilderoy Lockhart of all people, and that had led to Ginny wishing she couldn't remember any of her first year.

_I just wish that I could be obliviated and start Hogwarts over. I wouldn't mind starting at twelve._

Harry sighed. He knew this subject would come up eventually, but it didn't sound like it was going to be an easy conversation. _Obliviated? What's that mean?_

_It means they could erase my memory. The Ministry does it all the time to Muggles who accidentally find out about magic._

Harry found that thought a little disturbing, but he didn't say anything. _Have you asked your Dad about it?_

_Yes, but Mum caught me. She freaked out and forbid me from even talking about it ever again._

Harry gave a silent cheer for a moment, then faltered. _Do you want to forget me too?_

_NO! _She paused for a moment, then continued calmer. _Harry, you're probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. I love my family, but you don't know how nice it is to have a friend who isn't one of my brothers. I don't know why, but it's just so much easier to be around you than them._

Harry wasn't sure whether he should be proud of himself or ashamed for trying to replace her brothers. _I'm not trying to replace them._

_I know you're not, and you won't. I just want you to know you mean a lot to me._

He rolled that thought around his head for a bit. It was nice to mean something to someone, even if he felt a little queasy about it. He didn't want to hurt her, and if something went wrong, she would probably be devastated. He knew he would be if something happened to her. _I'm glad that I do. You know it doesn't matter to me what happened last year, right?_

She was quiet for a minute, in which Harry assumed she was thinking. She did that a lot, making Harry wonder if it was just him that made her think, or if she was always like this. She didn't seem like a girl that would think a lot, but she did when she was talking to him. _I don't know Harry. I can't talk to anyone about it._

_Why not? You can always talk to me._

_Thank you, I really do appreciate it, but I can't. I know everyone says it wasn't my fault, but I just can't face everyone right now._

_I'll be here when you do want to talk, you know that, right?_

_I know, and thank you._

The only truly disturbing thing that Harry noticed in his life was a lack of letters from Hermione. Indeed, Harry hadn't received any post in the last month, and if it wasn't for Ginny, his summer would have been miserable. He understood Ron not writing him, but Hermione hadn't even dropped so much as a note in his direction. He'd said as much to Ginny, who reminded him that she didn't have an owl and therefore couldn't send letters. Ginny had used Errol to send a note to their bushy-haired friend after the infamous phone call, warning her to not try and call him. Harry had been a little disappointed to hear that, but he agreed with her reasoning and assumed that Hermione had enough sense not to try to use Muggle post either.

Harry actually looked forward to his birthday this year, mostly because Ginny told him that Ron had used an international owl mailing service to send him a letter and a present. She wouldn't say what it was ("What's the surprise in that?"), but just getting something would be a vast improvement over all of his other birthdays at the Dursleys'. When a large barn owl flew in his window the night of July 31, Harry jumped to remove its burden of a letter and a package, giving it an owl treat and some water before it set off again. He picked up the letter to open it, but was distracted by a flash of white coming through the window. Upon further inspection, Hedwig had finally returned from an extended absence (one that Harry had started to worry about) carrying another package and looking extremely pleased with herself. He gave her a few moments affection and removed her burden before she hopped off to her cage and gulped down some water. Apparently tonight was the night for owl post, because a third owl, a handsome tawny, flew into the window with a third package and a letter bearing the Hogwarts crest. Hedwig hooted in annoyance as the tawny ruffled his feathers importantly and jumped back out the window.

Harry knew that Ginny was asleep already, or he would have checked to see if she was available to listen to him open presents. He figured he could tell her all about it the next time they talked, which depended on the Weasleys' trip. The way Bill ran it, they always had full days and there wasn't much time to spare, and when there was, Ginny was usually so tired that meaningful conversation was the farthest thing from her mind. Presents would make a good conversation topic at one of those times.

Harry sat down on his bed, then grabbed the letter he'd almost gotten to open and finished the job. He bent over to pick up the two items that fell out - a letter and a newspaper clipping. The clipping was from the _Daily Prophet_ and detailed Mr. Weasley's winning of the Galleon Draw and their plans to go to Egypt, which was old news as far as Harry was concerned, but he kept the clipping anyway. It was a nice reminder that good things happen to good people now and then, and besides that, it had a photograph (even if it was black-and-white) of all nine Weasleys together. He paid special attention to Ginny, who looked older than he remembered and moderately happy. Ron had his arm draped around her which was a good sign, and she waved shyly at Harry before giving Scabbers a wary look.

He set the clipping down and reached for the letter, which he quickly found was from Ron. The young redhead apologized profusely for losing Harry's phone number and said that he was planning on writing before they left for Egypt but he'd never got around to it. Harry knew that Ginny had burned the parchment with his phone number on it; he'd given her permission when she'd been terrified of telling Ron why he couldn't call his best friend. The rest of the letter was about Egypt and how amazing it was, something Ginny had already described in great detail, but Harry enjoyed Ron's perspective all the same. He also took great joy in finding out that Ron would get a proper wand for the next school year and not just a hand-me-down from someone else. Harry's eyes caught the last paragraph for a moment, wondering exactly what Ron knew about his connection with Ginny.

_I don't know what's gotten into Ginny lately, but she seems to be asking me more and more questions about you. I'd be careful around her unless you want to be stalked by a large tomato - that's what Bill reckons she looked like when he asked her how long she's fancied Harry Potter. She says she's over that, but I don't believe her._

_We'll be back about a week before term starts and we'll be going up to London to get my wand and our new books. Any chance of meeting you there?_

_Don't let the Muggles get you down, and try to come to London._

_Ron_

There was a postscript about Percy becoming Head Boy, but Harry didn't have strong feelings about that. He had totally forgotten about Ginny's massive crush on him over the past few weeks - she'd seemed normal, if a bit subdued, and she'd shown less and less embarrassment about simple little things. He'd finally gotten her to stop apologizing for every little thing she did, and once he assured her that he didn't mind talking to her, she'd relaxed and seemed to be having a good time. Perhaps Ron was wrong and she had gotten over it.

Harry opened the package that came with the note with considerable delight; a sneakoscope (though Harry had no idea what to use it for) was the best present he'd ever gotten for his birthday. He was so engrossed in the gift that he didn't notice the second, smaller one until he read the last part of the note Ron left him explaining what the sneakoscope was and what it was for.

_P.S: Ginny insisted upon getting you something, so it's in there too. Apparently it's an ankh, which is an Egyptian symbol of life according to Bill. I think it's a load of rubbish, but Mum said I should send it along with mine._

For the first time since starting Hogwarts, Harry disagreed with Ron on something. It was an odd feeling, contradicting your best mate to side with his sister, but Harry loved the gift she'd sent him. It was a simple necklace that was made of a rope-like material, and attached to it was a small silvery-blue ankh that hung from the bottom. Harry wondered where she'd gotten the money for it, but he was too pleased to dwell on it. She hadn't said anything about sending him a gift, but that was typical Ginny Weasley style. He put it around his neck at once, admiring how it hung off him, even though it was a bit long. He'd have time to grow into it, and this was certainly something he'd keep forever.

The next package was from Hermione, coupled with a long letter asking about him and telling him she was on holiday in France and talking about her typical academic zealousness. Harry gave Hedwig a smile when he came to the part about her showing up and saving Hermione the hassle of customs, to which Harry swore he saw affection in the owl's amber eyes.

The package she sent him turned out to not be a book as he expected, but a broomstick service kit. He saw what she meant about getting it past customs - there were some items of dubious nature for a non-wizard, and the idea of keeping a broom in top condition would sound absurd to a Muggle. _Wow, Hermione. Where was this side of you the last two Christmases?_

Harry took a moment to admire his three gifts, all of which he loved, but he was partial to the broom care kit. He missed flying something terrible, and perhaps the _Do It Yourself Broomcare _manual would help take his mind off things. Finally, he picked up his last package and opened it, jumping back almost immediately to avoid the chomp of the book (book?!) that nearly bit his hand off. It took a few minutes, but Harry finally got the _Monster Book of Monsters_ under control and safely bound by his belt. Hagrid's card wasn't much use either; he didn't think that he could ever find a use for a biting book.

The Hogwarts letter was the typical one informing him of the start of term and detailing the books he would need. After his conversations with Ginny about it, Harry wondered again if it was possible to change his class ideas this close to start of term, but something else caught his eye that took his mind completely off of classes.

_Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade on certain weekends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign._

Harry pulled out the Hogsmeade permission form, no longer able to hold a smile. From the tales of Fred and George (as well as other students), Hogsmeade sounded like a wonderful place to visit, but he would never be able to get Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia to agree to sign it. He sat there for a few long moments, staring at the blank signature line and feeling his heart slowly sink into his stomach. His watch beeped once, signaling two o'clock in the morning, and Harry tossed the form aside and rubbed his eyes. There was nothing he could do about it now, in any case. He rose and hid away his presents under the loose floorboard, sighing as he doused the light and flopped onto his bed, wishing for the millionth time in his life that he lived anywhere but at the Dursleys'.

------

As it turned out, Harry didn't get to talk to Ginny the next morning; he had to wait until the next night, when she called to him after dinner. Aunt Marge had arrived that day, but there was one single, solitary good thing about her arrival. Harry had coaxed his uncle into a deal that if he pretended to be a perfectly normal Muggle for one whole week, and stuck to the story about him attending St. Brutus' Center for Incurably Criminal Boys, then he would get his Hogsmeade form signed. Of course, when Ginny heard of this, she was nearly outraged, and that was after Harry decided to leave out the criminal aspects of the deal.

_How can they make you do that?!_

Harry sighed. She didn't understand what life was like at the Dursleys', and truth be told, he hoped she never would have to. _It's just a week and I'll be free to go. It's not really that much of a difference because I'm not allowed to act like a wizard in front of them anyway. I just have to deal with Aunt Marge._

Ginny let her thoughts on his aunts fill his head, most of which were not far off considering she had never met either of them. It comforted Harry somewhat to know that someone was on his side and someone wanted to stick up for him, but there wasn't much Ginny could do out in Egypt, and they'd already agreed to be careful about what they knew about each other - it wouldn't do for Ginny to suddenly know that Harry wasn't going to get his Hogsmeade permission form signed when she was way out in Egypt and no letters had come from him.

_Are you going to be able to do it?_

Harry thought of the exploding wine glass and thought it was best to leave that out as well. _I think so - I'm just memorizing the broomcare guide Hermione got me and repeating it in my head when I get angry._

_Hermione got you a broomcare guide?_ Ginny sounded a little confused, which made Harry laugh. He was glad that the four Dursleys were down watching the new television, which was blaring rather loudly.

_She got me a whole Broomstick Servicing Kit. It's brilliant._

There was a silence that Harry accounted to shock before Ginny replied. _That's really cool Harry. Much more useful than the sneakoscope that Ron got you._

Harry smiled. _But not as special as the necklace you got me._

Silence again, and Harry could almost see her blushing. He hoped there was no one in the room with her at the moment, because it would look very strange if one's sister or daughter randomly turned the color of a juicy tomato. _So you really like it?_

_Of course I do, Ginny. It's very special._ And it was. He might have liked Hermione's gift better for practical use, but in terms of sentimental value, Ginny was all over it. He supposed Ron had put a lot of thought into his gift too, but there was something special about that necklace that made Harry grin like an idiot. Maybe it was the fact that he knew Ron had gone, "Oh, cool! Let's get this for Harry." when he bought his gift, and yet somehow he knew that Ginny had sought hers out specifically for him.

_I'm glad you liked it._

They talked for some time more, discussing what Ginny had seen during the day and more about Bill's job. It had become a common subject for the pair, discussing what it would be like to be a curse-breaker. Everything Harry heard about the job sounded interesting (though he was sure that there were bad parts; there had to be with all those nasty curses), and when he looked at Bill's picture in the _Prophet _article, he had to admit Bill even _looked_ cool.

------

Ginny was in bed, fast asleep before the last dinner of Aunt Marge's stay, something that Harry regretted deeply even by the beginning of the meal. His eyes glazed over as he retreated into the recesses of his mind, only half aware of what was being said, finding a twisted sort of humor in Marge's prods about him being a few bricks short of the load. In Harry's view it was quite the opposite - he was the only intellectually viable person in the room, though he knew he probably looked every bit as daft as Marge was saying due to his mind-walking. He kept meaning to ask Ginny if she had the same sort of experience looking into her own mind, but her talk of Egypt and other things always allowed it to slip from his mind to the point where he just decided to ask her in person when he could.

No, Harry was staring at two things - one was the jar of Fleetwood's High-Finish Handle Polish that his mind had attributed to his knowledge of broomstick care, and the second was a small red ball that was slightly faded in a way that told Harry that Ginny was asleep. He'd figured that out after a couple weeks when she'd said good night, and five minutes later the ball had faded into translucence.

Things were going well and Harry was reminding himself of the rules for trimming his broomstick's twigs when a cutting remark from Marge bored its way into his skull, one that never failed to get him angry and cause odd things to happen.

"He - didn't work.," Vernon was saying with a half-glance at Harry. He was, of course, speaking of Harry's father. "Unemployed."

"As I expected!" Aunt Marge exclaimed, taking a huge swig of brandy and wiping her chin on her sleeve. "A no-account, good-for-nothing, lazy scrounger who -"

"He was not." Harry said suddenly. The table went very quiet at his sudden waking. He was shaking all over, feeling angrier than he could ever remember.

"MORE BRANDY!" Uncle Vernon yelled, who had gone very white. He emptied the bottle into Marge's glass. "You, boy," he snarled at Harry. "Go to bed, go on-"

"No, Vernon," hiccupped Aunt Marge, holding up a hand, her tiny bloodshot eyes fixed on Harry. "Go on, boy, go on. Proud of your parents, are you? They go and get themselves killed in a car crash, drunk I expect-"

"They didn't die in a car crash!" Harry yelled, standing up and shoving his chair back violently.

"They died in a car crash, you nasty little liar, and left you to be a burden on their decent, hardworking relatives!" By now, Marge was screaming to match Harry's volume as she swelled with fury. "You are an insolent, ungrateful little-"

But Aunt Marge suddenly stopped speaking. For a moment, it seemed that words failed her, that she couldn't invent horrible enough adjectives to describe exactly what Harry was. She seemed to be swelling with inexpressible anger at being contradicted, but she didn't stop swelling. Harry looked on in horror (and smug satisfaction) as Aunt Marge swelled and swelled, looking more and more like a balloon the longer he watched. Everything from her face to her toes started to expand, as if someone was pumping her full of air very quickly. She began floating up off her chair, several buttons bursting from her tweed jacket as Uncle Vernon grasped her feet and tried to pull her back down.

Harry tore from the dining room before anyone could say anything to stop him, heading for the cupboard under the stairs, which burst magically open as he reached it. It took him only seconds to heave his trunk to the front door, leaving it there for all of the fifteen seconds it took him to dash upstairs, wrench up the floorboard, grab the pillowcase laden with gifts and books, and return back downstairs where Uncle Vernon was waiting in a purple rage.

"COME BACK IN HERE! COME BACK AND PUT HER RIGHT!"

But the rage that had enveloped Harry instilled a recklessness in him that would have scared even the bravest Gryffindors. He pulled his wand out of his trunk, fixing it steadily on his uncle and already calling the disarming spell to mind.

"She deserved it. She deserved what she got." Harry waved his wand as his breathing increased. "You keep away from me."

The latch on the door stalled him for only a moment more before he threw the door open and pulled his trunk out onto a dark quiet street, Hedwig's cage under his arm and wand in the other hand. He was several streets away before he collapsed against a low wall in Magnolia Crescent, panting from the effort of dragging his trunk. He sat quite still, feeling the anger coursing through his veins and trying to still his breathing. Harry retreated into his own mind, searching for a split second before he did the only thing that came to mind.

_Ginny!_


	2. Phoenix Feather

**2: Phoenix Feather**

_Ginny!_

That was the third time he called out to her, praying she would wake. He hadn't a clue what to do next - surely the Ministry was going to track him down and expel him for violating the Decree for Restriction of Underage Wizardry, if not snap his wand in half on the spot. He had plenty of gold in his Gringotts account to make his getaway, but he didn't know if he'd be able to get to it before the Ministry did, and if they got there first, he may never see it again.

_Harry?_

Her voice was groggy and more than a little sleepy, but it was still the sweetest sound he'd heard in his life. _Ginny! I've run away from home and I'm scared and I don't know what to do! _This all came out at lightning speed, but luckily Ginny didn't have any trouble understanding him. Their mind-to-mind contact was much faster than anyone could ever hope to speak.

_It's going to be all right Harry. _She sounded much less sleepy and more alert, and maddeningly calm. _Why don't you tell me what happened?_

_I was sitting at the dinner table and thinking about you and how to trim my broom when Aunt Marge started insulting my dad. I tried to hold it back Ginny, I really did! I didn't want to blow her up!_

_I know you didn't, Harry, you'd never do that to anyone._ She paused, entering one of her silences that Harry knew to be thinking. _Do you have anywhere to go? Friends' houses, maybe another relative?_

Harry didn't have the heart to tell her he'd never been allowed to have friends before Hogwarts. The only place he could think of was Ms. Figg's place, but he hated it there, and that would probably be the first place the Dursleys would point the Ministry if they came looking. _No, but if I can get to Gringotts I have a lot of money and I can go get a room somewhere._

_You can't stay by yourself, it's not safe. I don't even think they'll let you get a room if you're not of age._

He hadn't thought about that, but he was too busy puzzling out what was going to happen to him. He was going to be expelled from Hogwarts, obviously, and he would probably spend the rest of his life in that Wizarding prison that Draco mentioned last year. He wondered if he should tell Ginny what he was thinking, but he was too deep into their friendship for that to even be a question. _Ginny, I don't think I have to worry about that. I'm going to have to get as far from London as I can._

For the first time, her voice sounded slightly panicked. _Why?_

_I have to run from the Ministry - I don't want to go to jail._

There was a silence, long enough to make Harry wonder what happened before Ginny spoke again. _Sorry, Mum heard me wake up and she came in to check on me. I told her it was a nightmare._

_You should go back to sleep - I can deal with this on my own._

_No! Harry, we're in this together. We're always together._

He didn't know whether to be scared, flattered, or angry about that statement. He didn't want her to leave, but at the same time he didn't want her getting caught up in all of this. If anyone found out their connection, it could mean a lot of trouble for her. _Promise me you won't tell anyone about this. I don't want you getting in trouble._

_I won't, as long as you promise to let me help you._

_I promise._

_Okay, I think I know how you can get to Diagon Alley. Do you have any money with you?_

If there was one good thing about Harry's situation, it was that he had money and everything that belonged to him in a trunk and the cage sitting on top of it. _A little bit._

_That should be enough. I remember a long time ago when Mum and Dad told Bill about this bus that he could use if he ever got stranded. I think it was called the Knight Bus. You stick out your wand arm and it will take you wherever you need to go._

Harry thought that sounded a lot like a taxi, but he didn't mention anything to Ginny. Instead, he went to the side of the road and put out his wand arm. There was a deafening BANG, and Harry had to shield his eyes from the massive headlights that penetrated his vision. The massive triple-decker was painted a violent purple and had the biggest wheels Harry had ever seen, as well as the words _The Knight Bus_ above the windshield in gold lettering. It took a moment for Harry to blink the spots from his vision, and when he did, he was met with the tail end of a speech.

"-name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor this evening."

Only after the conductor was done speaking did he notice Harry, who was standing next to his trunk and looking more than a little shocked. Not only did the man's sudden appearance surprise him, but he didn't seem to be much older than Hogwarts age. Somehow, he'd expected the taxi driver to be an old squib. Immediately, Stan's eyes locked on his forehead.

"Woss that on your 'ead?"

_Did it work?_

Both Ginny and Stan spoke at the same time, and it was rather disorienting for Harry. His hand acted out of reflex, flattening his hair over his scar in a way only two years of practice could. "Nothing." _Yeah, it did, and be quiet for a minute._

"Woss your name?"

"Dudley Dursley." It was out before he had time to think, distracted by both Ginny's angry _Fine, _and a large black dog that was stalking off behind Stan. A chill ran down his spine at the sight - it was the biggest dog he'd ever seen, and he could have sworn it was staring right at him with bright yellow eyes before it disappeared into the night.

"Tha's a strange name," Stan said, before his eyes fixed on Harry's forehead again.

"So - so this bus," Harry said, looking at the monstrosity once again. "It goes anywhere?"

"Yep." Stan puffed out his chest as he spoke. "Anywhere you like, long's it's on land. Can't do nuffink underwater." His expression turned suspicious again at Harry's confusion. "You did flag us down, dincha? Stuck out your wand 'and, dincha?"

"Yes," Harry said quickly. "How much to get to London?"

"Eleven sickles," Stan said. "But for firteen you get 'ot chocolate, and for fifteen you get an 'ot water bottle an' a toofbrush in the color of your choice."

Harry rummaged around in his trunk, found eleven silver coins, and shoved them into Stan's hand. He and Stan then lifted his trunk into the bus and under a bed, which Harry was surprised to note there were a lot of. The bus looked much bigger on the inside than it did on the outside, and there were no seats to be found anywhere.

"You 'ave this one," Stan whispered, indicating the bed they just stowed the trunk under. Harry was uneasy about being right behind the driver, whom Stan introduced as Ernie Prang. Harry flattened his hair again and took a seat on his bed as Stan sat in the armchair next to Ernie's.

There was another tremendous BANG, in which Harry was thrown flat on his bed. He didn't bother to pull himself up - he had an angry lady in his head to worry about.

_I'm sorry Ginny, I just couldn't talk to you and Stan at the same time. It was confusing._

Harry wondered for a while if she was going to respond, but eventually her curiosity got the better of her, even if she still sounded a little peeved. _Who's Stan?_

_He's the conductor for the Knight Bus. You were right, they're taking me to London._

That, at least, seemed to mollify her for the moment. _Get used to it Potter, because I'm right a lot._

_Yes, Ginny, you're right._

_Don't patronize me._

_How do you even know what that means?_

That earned him a very cold shoulder, to which he sighed and sat up, taking the chance to look out the window into the night. It couldn't have been much past ten, but somewhere along the way Harry had forgotten his watch and couldn't figure out the time exactly.

He watched as Madam Marsh was dropped off in Abergavenny, feeling slightly sick due to Ernie's driving. It was lucky that lampposts, mailboxes, and buildings seemed to jump out of the way, because they would have probably totaled the triple-decker within the first two minutes if they didn't. They set off again with a loud bang, and Harry lay back on his bed. But he wasn't able to sleep, even if he wasn't on a bus that made him want to retch at every turn.

The ride was all but pleasant, leaving Harry to wonder if the Dursleys managed to get Aunt Marge off the ceiling yet. He found that he really didn't care at the moment because he wasn't ever going back there if he could help it. It was a long night as the bus picked up and dropped off more and more people, and Harry wondered exactly how long it was going to take him to get to London. He found his answer in that the bus wasn't just for England, but it seemed to service most of the European continent as well. He drifted into a state of semi-consciousness, not quite able to sleep, but not quite able to stay awake Without his watch, he couldn't know how much time had passed, but he guessed the morning was coming on when Stan unfurled a copy of the _Daily Prophet_. Harry had been gone from the Wizarding world for six weeks, and since Ginny was in Egypt, neither of them had any way of staying current with the local news. A large photograph stared back at him, one of a sickly looking man with matted hair and a slow blink, if that was possible.

"He was on the Muggle news too," Harry said, a faint recognition stirring in his mind. He'd been walking through the living room after dinner and talking to Ginny at the time, but the picture had oddly stuck in his brain. His comment earned a curious look from Stan.

"'Course 'e was on the Muggle news, Dudley, where have you been?" He gave a superior sort of chuckle at the blank look on Harry's face. Harry supposed Stan didn't get to feel superior to many people, so he didn't say anything as he took the front page from the conductor. "You oughta read the papers more."

Harry held the paper up to the candlelight and read, and then read again to make sure he understood. The man in the photo looked like pictures of vampires he'd seen in Quirrell's class for first year Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Scary-lookin' fing, inee?" said Stan, who had been watching Harry read.

"He murdered _thirteen people_ with _one curse_?"

"Yep." Stan nodded. "In front of witnesses an' all. Broad daylight. Big trouble it caused, dinnit, Ern?"

"Ar," Ernie said darkly, but Harry wasn't listening.

_Ginny, what do you know about Sirius Black?_ She hadn't said a word to him since his little jab, but it was worth a try. He took a moment to look at her presence in his mind, confirming she had already woken back up, but she still didn't answer. Stan's voice roused him from his trance.

"Black woz a big supporter of You-Know-'Oo."

Harry had learned through conversations with Ginny that Voldemort's name was something of a taboo in wizarding society. He'd always known that people were afraid of the name, but after saying it once or twice to Ginny, she'd finally had the grace to tell him that it just wasn't right, along with scaring the daylights out of people. She'd finally come to the conclusion (as Harry had) that the way people reacted was stupid, and she'd gotten used to it, but Harry had enough sense not to ask who Stan was talking about.

"He supported - er - You-Know-Who?"

Harry listened for a while as Stan explained the history behind Sirius Black, feeling more and more disturbed as the tale grew. Harry finally put a name to that Wizarding prison he'd heard Malfoy talk about last year (and that he now remembered Hagrid being taken off to), and he agreed with Stan's assessment - Sirius Black was a madman.

_He's really dangerous._ Ginny's voice floated back into his head, sounding a bit weaker. _I heard Mum talking to Dad about him a couple weeks ago. Where did you hear about him from?_

_It was in the Daily Prophet. Apparently he broke out of Azkaban._

_What?!_ Ginny seemed genuinely shocked to hear this. _Nobody has broken out of Azkaban before. It's supposed to be impossible..._

Her voice trailed off, obviously lost in thought. Harry wondered how she didn't know about this if it was such big news, but he supposed Mr. and Mrs. Weasley could have kept it from her if Azkaban was as secure as Ginny suggested. He must be really dangerous if he could do something no criminal has done before, as well as murder thirteen people with one curse.

"Dudley?" Stan's voice pierced into his thoughts as he felt a finger poking him in the shoulder. Harry realized the conductor was talking to him.

"Er - yes?" He noticed that all the other passengers had gotten off and now Stan was staring at him.

"Where-abouts in London are you goin'?"

"Diagon Alley," Harry said, thinking of Gringotts.

"Right-o," Stan said, plopping down in his armchair again as the bus made another loud BANG! and they were suddenly on Charing Cross Road.

_Harry, where are you?_

_I'm about to get into Diagon Alley. I think they're going to drop me off at the Leaky Cauldron._

_Okay, good, you'll be safe there. What are you going to do once you get your money?_

_I don't know, but probably find somewhere to stay in London. I don't fancy riding this bus again, and I don't think it would be a good idea to make myself that easy to track. You should concentrate on being with your family though._

_I won't until I know you're okay._

It gave him a warm feeling to know that someone was looking out for him, but reason won out. _They'll know something is wrong if you keep spacing out. I promise to tell you as soon as something happens._

_You sure?_

_I'm sure._

_Okay Harry. You be careful._

_I will._

Ernie slammed on the brakes, nearly throwing Harry onto the floor as the bus screeched to a halt. Harry dragged his trunk and Hedwig's cage off the bus, tossing a quick thank you to Ernie and Stan, but neither of them was looking at him or even seemed to hear him. They were both staring past him to the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron, where a faintly familiar voice said, "_There_ you are, Harry."

Harry's insides turned cold as a hand clamped firmly onto his shoulder. He turned to get a look at the hand's owner, his hopes dying in one fatal moment as he realized who the man was. He'd been corralled by none other than Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself.

"What didja call Dudley, Minister?"

Fudge frowned, looking up at the conductor for the first time. "Dudley? This is Harry Potter."

"I knew it!" Stan shouted gleefully. "Guess 'oo Dudley is Ern? 'E's 'Arry Potter! I seen 'is scar!"

"Yes," Fudge said irritably. "I'm glad the Knight Bus picked young Harry up, now he and I need to step inside, if you would excuse us." Harry felt his shoulder being turned and he didn't have a choice but to precede the Minister into the pub, glancing up to see the hunched figure of Tom the Bartender peering at him.

"You've got him, Minster! Will you be wanting anything? Beer? Brandy?"

"A pot of tea will do."

Two grunts came from behind Harry, and he turned to see Stan and Ernie dragging his stuff into the Leaky Cauldron and looking oddly excited to be carrying a heavy trunk and an owl cage around.

"'Ow come you di'n't tell us 'oo you are, eh, Dudley?" Both of the Knight Bus operators were peering at him interestedly and doing some blatant scar-gazing.

"And a _private_ parlor, please Tom?"

"Bye," Harry said miserably as Tom came to lead them away from the bar. He felt as though he was being led to Azkaban already, but the only thing that waited at the end of the hall was a small parlor lit by a modest fireplace.

"Sit down, Harry," Fudge said, indicating a chair by the fire. He introduced himself to Harry (though Harry already knew who he was), and Tom brought in tea and crumpets. Harry couldn't help but making the comparison to having his last meal, but he tried to dispel the thought as quick as possible.

"Well, Harry," said Fudge as he poured out tea. "You've had us all in a right flap, I don't mind telling you. Running away like that..." The minister babbled on for a few minutes, but Harry wasn't listening. He made all the proper noises and words in the right places, but his mind was still spinning. Why would the Minister of Magic himself be out looking for him? Why wasn't he going to get punished? Fudge was right, of course, he didn't want to be expelled from Hogwarts at all, but slipping by without even a warning seemed to go against everything he'd ever heard about the Ministry.

Perhaps the only thing that he wasn't surprised about was Fudge's refusal to sign his Hogsmeade form. Something about the way he was being treated, how Tom had reacted to his arrival, and how the Minister of Magic was catering to him didn't fit into his mind properly. About the only thing that caused him to feel more comfortable with everything was Hedwig's arrival, which was surprising but warming none the less. He figured he had at least two friends in the world right now, even if one was an owl and the other was a voice in his head. Harry considered telling Ginny of everything that the Minister had said, but he was too tired and wound up falling asleep before he could even take his glasses off.

------

When he woke, he found that it was already mid-afternoon and for once, he was comfortable. It took him a moment to realize he wasn't still at the Dursleys and that he was staying in a room at the Leaky Cauldron until start of term, which meant two Dursley free weeks. He nearly jumped out of bed at the idea.

After getting out of bed, getting cleaned up, and throwing on some of Dudley's old hand-me-downs, Harry remembered Ginny and his promise to tell her as soon as something happened. She would want to know what was going on and that he was safe and wasn't going to get expelled, but no doubt she was exploring some fantastic pyramid at the moment and he didn't want to take anything away from that. But then he remembered her cold shoulder and decided it wasn't worth it.

_Ginny?_

She took a moment to answer, which Harry expected. _Where are you?_

_Do you have a minute?_

_Bill's giving us a tour of some ancient pharaoh's tomb, but I can talk. Just don't get worried if I don't answer._

_I can wait, you have fun._

_Harry..._

That was the dangerous tone, the one she used when he was about to do something that she really didn't like. He'd only heard it a couple times, but that was enough to ensure his compliance. _I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron. The Minister of Magic was waiting for me here and got me a room and I'm not going to be punished._

_How is that possible?_

_I don't know, he just seemed to be really happy to find me. He said I have to stay in Diagon Alley and I can't go anywhere else, but I have a room here until the term starts._

Ginny was quiet for a minute. _That's great Harry, but why are they being easy on you? You should have gotten expelled._

Harry sighed. _Don't remind me. I said the same thing to Fudge, but he waved it off like it was nothing. It was weird._

_Yeah...that is really weird. So you're okay?_

_Better than okay. I get two weeks without the Dursleys._

_Then I'm going to focus on this. Mum and Percy are starting to give me weird looks._

_All right. You have fun._

_I will, and I'll talk to you tonight._

With that, Harry was left alone in his head. It was an odd feeling, not having to get up to do chores, but he rather liked it. Someone had brought his trunk up to his room and put it at the foot of his bed, and Hedwig was resting quietly in her cage by the window. Harry wondered if he should send a note to Ron or Hermione telling them of his adventure, but he decided against it. There was no need to worry them (Hermione would, excessively), and they would be in Diagon Alley sometime next week, so he figured he'd just tell them then.

In any case, his new freedom in Diagon Alley was amazing. He was able to wake up when he wanted, eat whatever he pleased, and visit all of the interesting shops he never knew were there. He passed by the entrance of Knockturn Alley a few times, shivering at the memory and giving it a wide birth, but otherwise his days were rather wonderful. He found that Florean Fortescue would give him free sundaes every half-hour while working on his homework, and was a good source of information for his essays. Almost everyone in the alley seemed to be friendly, and the assistant at the bookshop had stumbled over himself in thanks when Harry told him he already had a _Monster Book of Monsters_. Harry wondered how Hagrid knew what book he would need for Care of Magical Creatures, but he didn't spend much time on it.

Indeed, Harry came up against a problem when deciding which books to buy. He wanted to get into the Ancient Runes and Arithmancy classes, but he didn't know if he would be able to, or what books he would need if he did. He also didn't need to buy _Unfogging the Future_ if he was going to be dropping Divination, but with a large bag of gold in his hand, Harry decided money wasn't the issue. He would go ahead and buy the Divination book, as well as the books for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes when Hermione arrived, and whatever he didn't need he could donate back to the school or something.

Harry was so distracted by his book issues that he almost missed the large black dog that was on the cover of one of the Divination books in Flourish and Blotts. The assistant ushered him away and assured him it was nothing, but he couldn't get the dog out of his head. It looked exactly like the dog that had been watching him as he boarded the Knight Bus, and the title of the book was _Death Omens: What To Do When You Know The Worst Is Coming._ That, along with Fudge's obvious relief at finding him, made him wonder what exactly was going on. Harry had never believed much in fortune telling and all that, but he decided maybe now was the time to start.

Fortunately, when passing Ollivander's, another thought came into his head that made him completely forget about everything else. He remembered Ginny talking about a family celebration in Egypt, but all he could offer her was a meager _Happy Birthday_ and sharing her happiness at her presents. She'd said that was enough, but it disturbed him greatly that she'd been able to get something for his birthday and he hadn't for hers. So as he passed Ollivander's, the perfect idea came to him - he would get her a wand. Ron was getting a new one after he got back from Egypt, so why should Ginny be left behind? Harry remembered how some of the wands in the wand shop had felt cold and distant - if Ginny was using a wand like that, she must have a terrible time trying to learn magic.

Satisfied with his decision, he wandered back to Quality Quidditch Supplies to ogle the _Firebolt_. He'd spotted the broom within five minutes of coming into the Alley, and he spent a disproportionate amount of time looking at it and wishing he wouldn't have to empty his Gringotts vault to buy it. Price on request didn't sound cheap, but that didn't stop him from looking. When he'd told Ginny of it, she sounded almost as excited as he was. That made Harry suspicious, and when prodded, she'd confessed that she had been flying since she was six and had dreamed of being a chaser on the House Quidditch team for longer than she could remember. She'd been quite embarrassed when Harry said that he thought she'd make an excellent chaser.

Ginny also told him that the Weasleys would be coming to Diagon Alley the day before the train left for Hogwarts, and that he should look for them then.

_It's going to be weird seeing you - I feel like I've known you forever, but we've barely met in person._

Ginny was silent after that, and Harry wondered if he'd said anything wrong.

_You okay?_

_Yeah...It's just going to be really weird. I feel so stupid for how I acted last year around you._

_Don't...we're past that. Though don't be surprised if I laugh the first time you use a butter dish._

_Harry..._Ginny groaned, but he could tell she found a little bit of humor in it too. _Just make sure you're careful around me - if we want to keep this a secret then we can't be best friends so fast._

Harry took a moment to ponder that. Were they best friends? It had only taken them two months to get to this stage in their relationship, and they hadn't seen each other since the train, but he felt as close to her as he did to Ron and Hermione. Maybe it was need - they both had needed a friend for different reasons, and they both had found each other.

_We'll get there. I don't care what anyone says, even if they do find out about this. I'm not going to ignore you._

_Thanks Harry. That means a lot._

Over the past two months, Harry had slowly developed the ability to tell what she was feeling simply from her tone of voice, since that was all he had to work with. This was helped by her honesty with her feelings with him (he'd become something of a confidant), but even now he could tell she was truly happy. It had come in spurts, a few minutes here, a couple minutes there, but he could tell that she was starting to really come around.

Because of Ginny he knew exactly when the Weasleys arrived, but he didn't make any effort to seek them out. Ginny told him that they were going around and getting their school supplies after they met Hermione in the Leaky Cauldron, and that Ron and Hermione were looking everywhere for him. Harry smiled at that - he'd gotten his school stuff already, but it was fun to think of them looking everywhere and being unable to find him. He was gazing at the _Firebolt_ for one last time when the pair genuinely surprised him.

"Harry! HARRY!"

He turned around, spotting them at once in front of the Ice Cream Shop and striding over. He didn't fail to notice that Ginny was with them, looking rather smug and licking her cone happily. All three of them looked as though had seen a lot of sun, and Ron's extra freckles were rather comical (Ginny's were cute, but Harry didn't think about that). His grin matched Ron's as he sat down and took a sundae from Florean, which he insisted on paying for.

"Finally! We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but Tom said you'd already gone, then we went to get our school stuff-"

"I got all that last week," Harry said. "How'd you know I was staying at the Leaky Cauldron?" He couldn't help but throw a suspicious look at Ginny, who looked about as surprised as he did.

"Dad." Ron said. Harry nearly smacked himself on the forehead - of course he would know, even if he did work at the dubious Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department.

"Did you _really_ blow up your aunt, Harry?" Hermione sounded concerned, but Ron's lips quirked upward, awaiting the answer.

"I - I didn't mean to. She started in on my dad..." Harry sighed as Ron roared with laughter. Hermione gave the older redhead withering look, but Harry really didn't feel like discussing it, so he turned to Ginny.

"Hello Ginny."

In spite of everything they'd talked about, the time they'd spent preparing for this moment, Ginny blushed a furious red and stuck her nose in her ice cream. Harry sniggered. _Smooth._

"Hullo Harry." _Prat._

Ron rolled his eyes while Hermione's eyes bounced between the two curiously. "The tomato has been asking questions about you all summer. I reckon she's going to propose any day now."

"Hey, at least then I'd be a real part of the family, eh Ron?"

Ron's jaw dropped while a small smile worked at the corners of Ginny's mouth. _Thanks Harry._

He didn't trust himself to think back to her without spacing out, but she seemed to do a wonderful job of concealing her conversation with him. He'd have to ask her about it later when they were alone. "So when did you get here Hermione? I haven't seen you all week."

"Mum and Dad dropped me off with all my Hogwarts things this morning. I'm going to be going to the station with you all."

Harry grinned at that, then spotted three bulging bags over her shoulder. "What's all that for?"

Hermione tinged a little pink as she followed his gaze. "Well, I'm taking a few new subjects, aren't I? I mean, with Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination-"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that."

Ron and Hermione gave him the strangest of looks, but out of the corner of his eye he could see Ginny giving him a small smile. She knew exactly what this was about.

"Could you tell me what books are needed for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes? I've been doing some reading, and I'm going to ask McGonagall if it's possible for me to switch into those classes."

After she recovered from her initial shock, Hermione beamed at him while Ron looked at him as though he'd grown a third head. "Of course, Harry! I'm glad you've finally decided to take your studies seriously."

"Well then, I'm going to need to go to Flourish and Blotts to pick those up, you want to come with me?"

Hermione bit her lip, looking torn. "Actually Harry, Mum and Dad gave me a little extra money to get myself an early birthday present, and I think I'd like to get an owl. It was dreadful not being able to write over the summer."

Before Harry could respond, Ron cut in. "I need to get Scabbers checked out too - I don't think Egypt agreed with him."

Harry nodded, thinking this worked out well. "There's a magical creature shop over there, so you can get Scabbers checked and Hermione can get her owl." They looked around to confirm his knowledge of the Alley (which was very good after two weeks), and then looked back. "If you'll write the names down, I'll hop over to Flourish and Blotts, and then we can meet back here."

Hermione scribbled on a spare bit of parchment she pulled from one of her bags, and then handed it to Harry. Ron stood and looked over at his sister. "Come on Ginny, let's go."

_Come with me,_ Harry said as he stood. Ginny looked uncertainly between him and her brother.

"Ron, can I go with Harry? If you don't mind, of course." She directed the last part at Harry, who wondered where she'd learned to act so well.

"I don't mind."

Ron looked between the two, confused, but finally just threw up his hands. "Whatever. Ginny, stay out of trouble and don't bother Harry." Hermione gave them both a piercing look before she and Ron headed off, leaving Harry and Ginny to take an easy walk down to the bookstore.

"I didn't think we'd ever be rid of them," Ginny said.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Hey, you aren't my only friend."

Ginny's ears turned pink. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't meant to imply that, I just-"

"It's all right, I know what you mean. We'll have to be careful, but we'll make sure you can talk to me without putting your nose in ice cream one day."

She growled in annoyance and didn't speak again until they got to the bookshop. "I'm not always like that, you know. I can be fun to be around."

Harry smiled as he greeted the assistant and gave him the parchment that Hermione had written on. "I'm sure you can. You saved me from a miserable summer, in any case."

She looked down at her shoes, but to her credit, she didn't blush this time. "I was scared when you ran away from home. I didn't know what I'd do if you couldn't come back to Hogwarts."

"Oh, you mean it didn't matter I might have wound up in Azkaban?"

Ginny looked up, a little shocked, but then she scowled as she saw the grin on his face. "Are you ever going to stop teasing me?"

"Maybe when you stop blushing. It's funny."

As if on cue, she turned red again, and tried to hide her face with her hands. Harry laughed as he took the books from the assistant and paid for them, holding his bag in one hand and beckoning Ginny out of the store with the other.

"So are you ready for your birthday present? I know it's a bit late, but it's the best I could do."

"Harry...you don't have to get me anything..."

He shook his head. "You got me something, and I don't feel right not getting you something. Besides, I think you'll appreciate my gift for a long time."

Harry watched the conflict play out on her face, cheering as her expression softened and her shoulders relaxed. "All right...what is it?"

"If I told you it would ruin the surprise!" Harry grinned as she pouted, leading her in the direction of Ollivander's as she grumbled about having her words thrown back into her face. The walk was nice, and being with Ginny felt nicer, Harry decided. She wasn't anything like Ron or Hermione, but in her own unique way, she made him happy just like they did.

When they stopped in front of the wand shop, Ginny looked at him in horror. "No...you can't! Mum will kill me!"

Harry used his free hand to steer her inside, taking none of her argument. "If you have to, tell her I forced you to get it and threatened to turn your hair green if you didn't."

She gave him an incredulous look, then grinned and walked the rest of the way into the shop willingly. The green hair must have set an image in her mind that she didn't want to tangle with.

"You must be another Weasley, I assume?" Ollivander's soft voice floated through the shop. He wasn't any less creepy than Harry remembered him, and he wasn't sure he liked the old wandmaker and better this time around. "And Mr. Potter. Not having any troubles with your wand? Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, quite supple if memory serves?"

Harry nodded, trying to avoid those silvery eyes. "Yes sir, and it works just fine."

"Good, good."

_He's really creepy. _Ginny's voice filled his head, and he looked over at her to see the tape measure already going over her in every possible dimension.

_At least you didn't have to be in here when he did me. It was worse._

Ollivander had taken to shuffling around the shelves and pulling out a number of wands, setting them on the stool that Harry remembered Hagrid nearly broke. After a few minutes, Ollivander returned with another box and waved his hand at the tape measure. "That will do. Miss Weasley, if you would give it a wave?" He held out a wand, which Ginny took and waved halfway before Ollivander snatched it from her hand and tossed it in an empty box.

"No, that won't do. Here, willow and unicorn hair, seven inches."

Ginny got through three-quarters of a wave before Ollivander snatched it back, tossing it in the same box. The process repeated itself many times, taking much longer than Harry remembered even his own wand taking. Each time, nothing came from Ginny's wand and Ollivander, true to form, looked more and more pleased. Harry wondered if difficult customers were the highlight of his life. For that matter, what did he do all day if Hogwarts students weren't buying wands? Surely people don't break wands that frequently?

Finally, Ollivander frowned and flicked his eyes at Harry before disappearing. Ginny gave Harry an uneasy look, but neither of them could figure out what was happening, and Harry felt very uncomfortable with the look the wand maker had given him. Ollivander returned with a single wand, handing it to Ginny with a furrowed brow. Instantly, Ginny smiled and waved her wand, causing red and gold sparks to fly throughout the room as if from a fountain.

"Yes, yes, that's the one. Eight inches, hazel and phoenix feather...Very interesting..."

Harry's stomach did a flip-flop; Ollivander had acted the exact same way when Harry had found his wand two years ago. Ginny didn't seem to notice anything odd as Harry paid the man, though as soon as she left the shop she voiced some concerns to Harry.

"Why do you think it took so long for me to find my wand? Is it because I haven't got a lot of magical power?"

Harry shook his head as he turned in the direction of the ice cream shop. "No, I think he's just losing his touch."

Ginny giggled, but Harry was lost in thought. There was something about Ginny's wand that was special, he was sure of it. He didn't want to bother her with small details - her explosion of sparks had been as big as his own - but there was something distinctly unsettling about Ollivander's reaction, and something even more disturbing about the glance he'd given Harry before finding Ginny's wand.

Harry shook his head and cleared his thoughts as Ginny went on about how much better and easier magic felt with her new wand, and how she could really hex the twins when they annoyed her. As they met up with Ron and Hermione (who now had an enormous ginger cat in her arms that Ron was glaring daggers at), Harry made a mental note not to get on the wrong end of Ginny Weasley's wand.

------

Later that night, while most of the Weasleys were packing their things and the sounds of Percy yelling at Ron over his Head Boy badge could be heard, Harry and Ginny agreed mentally to meet in the bar area of the Leaky Cauldron. The pair shared a smile at the beginning of the passageway that led to the bar, then padded quietly through the now dark passage. They'd gotten no farther than halfway when they both heard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's angry voices floating back at them. Ginny put a hand up to stop him, then crept toward the parlor door. She obviously had years of experience eavesdropping on her parents, but Harry was just about to tell her to turn back when he heard his name.

"Harry's got a right to know. I tried to tell Fudge, but he insists upon treating Harry like a child, and -"

"Arthur, the truth would terrify him!" Mrs. Weasley said shrilly. Harry and Ginny shared a slightly scared look - they didn't need to know the truth to be slightly scared at this point. If the elder Weasleys were arguing about it and Fudge was involved, it had to be huge. "Do you really want to send Harry back to school with that hanging over him? For heaven's sake, he's _happy_ not knowing!"

Harry looked over at Ginny with a simple thought. _Not anymore._ She nodded, but didn't reply as her father continued.

"I don't want to make him miserable, I want to put him on guard!" For the first time Harry could remember, Mr. Weasley sounded angry. Ginny blinked and drew back from the door. Harry glanced at her inquisitively, but she put a finger to her lips. "You know what Harry and Ron are like, wandering off by themselves - they've ended up in the Forbidden Forest twice! But Harry mustn't do that this year! If the Knight Bus hadn't found him the night he ran away, I'm prepared to believe that he would have been dead by the time the Ministry found him!"

Both Harry and Ginny sucked in a breath after hearing this, looking extremely alarmed and not at all happy. There was even something in Ginny's eyes that Harry didn't recognize, but it made his stomach queasy and his insides squirm. It looked something like fear, but Harry could tell it was much more than that.

"But he's _not_ dead, he's fine, so what's the point-"

"Molly, they say Black's mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to escape from Azkaban, and that's supposed to be impossible. We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black can break out of Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts."

"But no one's really sure that Black's after Harry-"

There was a thud on wood, sounding as though someone had just banged a table.

"Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? They don't report it in the press because Fudge wants it kept quiet, but he's been talking in his sleep for a while now. Always the same words: 'He's at Hogwarts...He's at Hogwarts.' Black is deranged, Molly, and he wants Harry dead..."

The rest of the conversation Harry didn't hear, but unbidden, his thoughts flashed back to that book in the bookshop, and the giant dog he'd seen while boarding the Knight Bus. _What to do when you know the worst is coming..._

Suddenly, he felt a small hand on his arm and he allowed himself to be dragged back into his room, in which he was pushed onto his bed and he heard the door shut behind him. At the click of the lock, he looked up and saw Ginny sit next to him and gave her an incredulous look.

"Are you crazy?"

She didn't even wait for him to finish. She suddenly threw her arms around him and sobbed, her weight pushing him back onto the bed as she fell on top of him. Harry squirmed under her uncomfortably, but she didn't seem to notice as her arms tightened around his neck.

"I don't want you to die, Harry."

She sniffed and buried her head into his chest, leaving him lost for words. For Merlin's sake, he was only a thirteen year old boy, how was he supposed to deal with a crying girl? Knowing he had to do something, his arms wrapped around her waist as she curled into him, causing shivers to go up and down his body. This was the closest anyone had ever been to him, ever. She just seemed to melt into him, her tears dampening his shirt and her sobs filling the room.

"I'm not going to die Ginny."

She sniffed again, rubbing her nose into his shirt. "Y-You heard what Mum and Dad said! Sirius Black's after you! He wants to kill you!"

Harry had to admit, he was a little scared about that too, but if he'd survived Lord Voldemort three times, his second in command should be a piece of cake. "Ginny, the wards will protect me, remember? Hogwarts has walls to keep people like him out."

Harry very nearly cursed out loud after he realized what he'd said. It sounded so stupid after it came off his tongue, and yet, it seemed to comfort Ginny all the same. She slowly but surely stopped the flow of tears, wiping her eyes with her hands every few minutes before she looked up at him. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, and her hair was frazzled were she'd rubbed it against her chest, but Harry didn't care. It was an amazing feeling to have someone care so openly and blatantly for him.

"You really think so?"

Harry nodded. "I think they will. And you know the whole Ministry is looking for him - he'll be back in Azkaban before you know it."

She tried to smile, unsuccessfully, then her head hit his chest. "But he'll just break out again, and then he'll be after you and he'll be even smarter."

Harry's hand began rubbing her back, calling to mind all of the things he wished he'd had a mother to do for him when he was younger. His voice was soft and comforting, and he made sure to control his own fear just in case she could pick up on it.

"Not even Voldemort could kill me, and he's tried three times. I don't think one of his followers stands a chance."

To her credit, Ginny didn't flinch at the name, but she stared up at him, wide-eyed. "Three times? I thought it was two?"

_Bollocks..._Harry sighed. He really didn't want to get into this story now, but it looked like he didn't have a choice. He was going to have to tell her eventually, and now seemed to be as good a time as any.

"Before you came to Hogwarts, Dumbledore tried hiding this thing called the Philosopher's Stone. It could give anyone immortality and turn things to gold. Well, Voldemort heard about it, and he tried to steal it. Ron, Hermione, and I found out about his plan and we stopped him."

Ginny gasped, wonder filling her eyes. "How did I never hear about this? I thought the old Defense Professor was trying to steal something, but I never knew what it was."

"The only people who know are, Ron, Hermione, me, and Dumbledore." Harry didn't mention Flamel's involvement - that would just lead to more questions. "We kept it quiet, but that's why Gryffindor won the House Cup my first year - we didn't fight Quirrell, we were fighting Voldemort. His spirit possessed Quirrell and he was trying to steal the stone so he could have everlasting life."

Ginny looked as though she was about to cry again. "How can you live though all this, Harry? Does someone _always_ want to kill you?"

He'd never heard or thought about it so bluntly, but it seemed that way now that he did think about it. "I suppose so, Ginny. I've never really thought about it. You do what you can and move on."

If Harry didn't know better, he would have thought there was admiration in her gaze. It made him a little uncomfortable, but he calmed when Ginny sat up beside him and looked down at the bed. "I guess that's what I should do about Tom too, huh?"

Harry's mind spun inside his skull, trying to comprehend the sudden change in conversation. "What do you mean?"

"I should do what I can and move on from Tom. I've been so wrapped up in everything that I haven't moved on from everything. I've been too worried about what other people think."

Harry sat up next to her and nudged her shoulder with his, causing her to look up at him. "I don't know what everyone else thinks, but I'm proud of you. There aren't many witches who have lived when Voldemort - Tom - wanted them dead. You fought him for a whole year, and you almost won. If that's not amazing, I don't know what is."

He pulled that right out of a hat, but it was worth it to see the smile fight its way onto her face. "Do you mind me talking about it? I mean, I don't remember much, but I'd like to. I want to try to move on with things."

Harry nearly jumped for joy. He'd waiting for her to say something like that for ages. He'd had nothing to do all summer but think, and he'd thought about Ginny Weasley a lot. It had been slow progress at first, but he'd slipped more and more into the idea of being the best friend she obviously wanted him to be, and with that, he'd wanted her to throw off the demon Tom Riddle's diary had left her and be herself again. He knew that Ginny was amazing, and he really wanted to get to know her.

But what he said was, "No, of course not. I'm always here for you."

She smiled and turned to face him, sitting cross-legged on his bed. Harry glanced at the door, wondering if someone was going to come and wonder what they were doing, so he stood and walked over to it, unlocking it and cracking it slightly so that they wouldn't get in trouble. Ginny watched with curiosity, and then he could almost feel her panic as he turned back to face her.

_Harry, no! I don't want anyone to overhear us!_

A short war was waged in his mind, but in the end it was one sided. He closed the door again, but he didn't lock it before walking back over to the bed and mirroring her position in front of her. "I'm sorry, I just don't want to get in trouble."

Her eyes gave him an accepting look as she took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts. "Do you know where I found the diary?"

Harry nodded.

"When I found it, I really didn't have anyone to talk to. I had been alone for a whole year while Ron was at Hogwarts, and Luna isn't exactly the kind of person you talk to about serious things." Harry's confusion rose, so she explained. "I'll introduce you when we get to Hogwarts. She's a Ravenclaw in my year, really nice, but she's a little...off. People call her Loony, but that isn't exactly nice."

Harry could imagine worse nicknames, but he understood. There were worse nicknames that Boy-Who-Lived, but he still hated that with a passion.

"So I was lonely and I started writing in the diary, and when it started writing back, I didn't know what to think. He was nice enough, and he listened to me about everything." She blushed again, and Harry didn't have to ask what everything included. "He was my friend the whole year, and I even told him about...about my blackouts." Ginny sniffed, but Harry had to admire her strength.

"I just wanted someone to like me, for someone to see me as something other than the twins' little sister, or even Ron's little sister. I guess he just kept pulling me in, and I kept giving him more and more. It felt good to have someone there for me, and I trusted him. I don't know if I'll ever be able to do that again."

Harry felt that he should say something before she broke down again. "If it makes any difference, that was one of the first things I realized this summer, even before I started talking to you. I realized that I was treating you like Ron's sister and not like Ginny. I'm sorry and I promise never to do it again."

She nodded, adoration filling her eyes as she gazed at him. "I know I don't deserve it, but thank you Harry."

Harry smiled warmly, taking her hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze. "I know both of us would rather not be, but we've both been used by Tom in a way that makes us different. I don't know what else it might mean, but I'd like it to mean that we could be closer together. I know it will be hard for you to trust anyone like you trusted him, but I hope I can at least be there for you if you need me."

She was quiet for a while, but it was an easy silence. Harry knew that this was far from over, that Ginny still had a long way to go on the road of recovery, but at least she'd taken the first steps. He looked away as her eyes traced up and down his body, but he didn't move to stop her. It was a little unnerving, but something about the way she did it convinced him that it wasn't because he was Harry Potter.

"I don't know how you came out so wonderful after your relatives treated you so badly, but I'm glad you did." Harry's aunt and uncle had been a point of conversation for Ginny over the summer, and she'd been none too pleased with what she heard. She gave a forced laugh. "I doubt you'll ever need me, but I'm here for you if you need it too."

Harry looked up, catching her eyes and nearly grinning from ear to ear. He'd never realized how beautiful her eyes were - they'd always been turned down, away, or past him when he looked, but now that they locked gazes, he could see both the hard chestnut tones and the soft chocolate sparkle that made him feel comforted. "Everyone needs someone, Ginny. I'm sure there's a time I'll need you, and it's nice to know I'll have somewhere to go."

A loud rap sounded on the door, then after a few moments, Ron poked his head in. "Have you...Ginny?" The redhead looked extremely confused to find Ginny sitting across from Harry on his bed. Both of their hands flew back into their own laps as Ron's confusion turned to suspicion. "What are you doing in here?"

Ginny turned red and Harry wondered if she would ever be able to stop blushing whenever someone saw them together. He thought it was cute (still not thinking about that), but it could make for a problem if she couldn't handle it. And then there was the fact that her eyes looked rather red and puffy from crying.

"We were just talking, Ron. You know, that's what friends do."

"Whatever, _Hermione_." Harry raised an eyebrow, causing Ron to bite his tongue as he felt the bushy-haired girl came up behind him.

"Excuse me?"

Harry grinned as he watched his best mate quail under her gaze and stumbled over his answer. "Nothing, don't worry about it. I was just looking for Ginny."

Hermione seemed to notice the two other occupants of the room for the first time, giving them a very familiar and piercing look before turning back to Ron. "Well, it seems you've found her." She put her hands on her hips in a very mother-like fashion. Ron's ears turned red the way they do when he was put under a lot of pressure and his eyes moved as far away from Hermione as possible.

"Right. Mum says she wants you in bed." He gestured toward Ginny, and then waited before she got the hint to follow him. Apparently Mrs. Weasley didn't want anyone slipping out of going to bed. Hermione, to Harry's surprise, didn't leave but came farther into his room as soon as the redheads were gone.

"What's going on between you and Ginny?"

Harry swallowed, but it did nothing to get rid of the quaffle-sized lump in his throat. "Nothing, we were just talking."

The older girl shook her head dismissively. "I know that, but what's going on? You two have barely talked before now, and suddenly she leaves with you to go to the bookstore and comes back with a new wand, and then she's in your room having a private conversation."

Harry decided that Hermione was one girl he never wanted to try and fool. Ginny had asked him not to tell anyone about her new wand until they were on the train because she didn't want her Mum finding out, but somehow Hermione had noticed and called him out on it.

"She has a new wand?"

Apparently playing innocent wasn't going to work. "Harry Potter, don't you try and play dumb with me. She's been pulling it out and playing with it whenever she thinks no one is looking, and it's quite plain that it's brand new when her old wand looked as though it had been used quite a bit."

Harry gulped. "I bought her a new wand for her birthday, all right? We didn't want her Mum to find out, so we were going to keep it quiet until we got on the train. I didn't want her to have to go back to school and use her grandmother's old wand - it just wasn't working for her."

"And how did you know that?"

Harry's eyes shifted, unwilling to meet Hermione's. "She mentioned something about it to me once. Is it really so wrong to do something nice for her?"

Her face softened, but Harry could tell that this wasn't over. "No, I suppose not. Well, good night Harry."

"Good night Hermione."

She turned on her heel and walked out of the room, making sure to close the door behind her. Harry gave a great sigh of relief even as Ginny's voice filled his head.

_What was Hermione grilling you about?_

_Did you tell her that you got a new wand?_

_No, why?_

Harry groaned. _Because she noticed and she asked me where you got it, and what was going on between us._

_What did you tell her?_

_I just said that you mentioned it sometime and that I didn't want you going back to school with a bad wand. I tried playing innocent, but she didn't bite. I don't think she believed me when I told her that nothing was going on between us._

_Is there something going on between us, Mr. Potter?_ She almost sounded gleeful, and Harry regretted ever telling her about that.

_I've been meaning to talk to you about that too, Ginny. Er...do you still have a crush on me?_

There was a very long silence after that, which told Harry all he needed to know. This was about to get very complicated, and Harry wasn't sure he liked where it was going. He just didn't want a girlfriend like some blokes seemed to crave at his age, and he knew that Ginny wasn't going to want to hear about that. _Why do you ask?_ She sounded very guarded.

_I just wanted to know...I mean, I really don't want a girlfriend right now, but I didn't want you to be uncomfortable. I don't want to let things like that get between us._

She was silent again, then Harry heard (or thought he heard) and intake of breath before she replied. _I won't deny that I have feelings for you Harry, but they're not the same as they used to be. I-I don't know what's different, but it's not really a crush. I just feel really close to you and I want to be with you in every way possible. If you don't return those feelings, then I'll be happy being your best friend, if that's what you want._

Harry thought she sounded way too old for her age. He almost felt like he was talking to an adult, regardless of the fact that she was a year younger than he.

_I..._Harry started, but he realized he didn't know what he wanted to say. He took a moment, and then took a breath of his own before he responded. _I don't know what I'm feeling Ginny. I know I don't want a girlfriend right now, but I'm confused because I feel differently toward you than I do Hermione. She wonderful, but you give me this warm feeling that I don't get from her._

_I understand, Harry._ He thought he heard longing in her voice, but he didn't say anything. _Well, I've got to get to bed. Early day tomorrow._

_All right Ginny. Good night._

_Good night Harry._

A few minutes passed in which the pair got ready for bed, then just as Harry was turning over to lay on his stomach, he called out to Ginny, remembering something she'd said before Ron had interrupted them.

_Ginny?_

_Yes Harry?_

_I'll always be here for you._

_And I for you._

_Thanks Ginny._

_Thank you too Harry._

_Good night._

He heard her giggle softly. _Good night._

------

_**A/N:** Thank you all so much for the lovely reviews. I've responded to the ones that had questions or something that caught my attention, and I hope that all of you will continue to review and let me know what you think._


	3. Strange Feelings

**3: Strange Feelings**

The ride to King's Cross the next day was rather uneventful - after scrambling all morning to get everything ready and loaded into the Ministry cars, the drivers were mercifully competent and Harry barely even noticed as they somehow jumped ahead of an unmoving line of traffic. It was a welcome contrast to the year before, in which everyone had to hurry out of the cars and onto the platform, subsequently leaving Ron and Harry blocked outside after a rogue house elf had sealed the entrance. Although most of the Weasleys were buzzing with excitement, Harry and Ginny were rather quiet during the trip. They were still attempting to work through what they'd heard the night before and figure out what it meant for the school year ahead, as well as their lives. Neither of them pointed out the obvious - if Black really wanted to get Harry, his best chance was on the train before they got to Hogwarts.

Sure enough, all of the Weasleys, Hermione, and Harry were through the barrier and loading their trunks onto the train with ten minutes to spare. While Mrs. Weasley was telling her band of children goodbye ("Percy, your last year, I'm so proud of you!"), Harry was pulled aside by Mr. Weasley to warn him about the dangers Black posed, but Harry assured him that he'd overheard the argument from the night before and therefore didn't need to be told anything. Mr. Weasley glanced at Ginny (who was trying to get into a good spot to eavesdrop) and then sent Harry on his way before saying anything else. It looked as though he'd wanted to say more, but Harry knew that Ginny wouldn't leave them alone enough to have any private words. He tried to tell her to give them some space, but she shook her head and wouldn't let her father say what he wanted; at least, not without having her around to overhear it. This made Harry irritated, and it showed in his complete avoidance of her until they finally boarded the train.

Whatever Harry's feelings were, when he sat down in the last compartment that contained one tired looking man, Ginny plopped down right next to him and forced Hermione and Ron to sit together across from them. Ron scowled at Ginny, but Harry tuned it all out as he laid his head back against the wall. Ginny was uncomfortably close, but he hoped he would be asleep before he had to say something.

_I'm sorry Harry. I just didn't want to be left out._

He didn't respond for a good while, but she didn't seem impatient even as the train gathered speed and left the station behind. Well, Harry wouldn't have noticed if she was - he really wasn't looking all that hard, or in her direction at all.

_Don't worry about it. _

He would have relayed whatever Mr. Weasley had told him as soon as they got on the train, but that was beside the issue now. He could do the cold shoulder just as well as she could.

She crossed her arms and put some space between them, as if giving it up as a bad job. Harry knew she was only trying to make up for ignoring his request, but he really didn't feel like accommodating her at the moment, and she would have to learn that physical contact made him feel worse, not better. He also knew that this anger streak was going to have to go if he was going to be her friend, but that could wait until later too.

"So he's the new Defense teacher," Hermione mused, and Harry reluctantly looked up and followed her gaze to the weary looking middle aged man she was sitting one seat away from. He agreed with Ron's immediate assessment - one good hex probably _would_ finish the man off. Hermione fixed the redhead with a pointed gaze.

"Ron, Professor Dumbledore is nearly 150 years old, and surely you don't think one good hex would finish _him_ off, do you?"

The redhead looked at her as if she had gone nutters. "Dumbledore's the most powerful wizard ever, Hermione." Ron rolled his eyes. "You can't honestly compare them."

Hermione didn't say anything in reply, but there was an unmistakable look of victory on her face. Harry knew Ron would pick up on it sooner or later, so he cut off the row before it could start. "Mr. Weasley reckons Sirius Black is after me."

Ron whirled from examining Professor R. J. Lupin, and Hermione's eyes got as big as walnuts. Ginny looked for a moment as though she was going to pretend to be shocked, but then changed her mind at the last minute. Hermione was the first to find something to say.

"I guess that explains a lot...like why you weren't expelled for using magic."

Harry nodded, though he didn't appreciate the mention of expulsions again. "Ginny and I overheard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arguing about it last night. He broke out of Azkaban to kill me and take Voldemort's place."

Ron and Hermione winced at the name, which made Harry even more irritated. He wasn't having a good morning. He felt Ginny's hand on his arm and instinctually jerked away. Mercifully, she retreated, but she didn't look happy about it.

"He's been talking in his sleep about me. Fudge went there himself."

Hermione was first to say something - and predictably, it was something that made perfect sense but yet was no comfort at all. "At least you'll be protected at Hogwarts."

"If he can break out of Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts," Harry repeated dully. "It's not really any different than the last two years I suppose. Someone is always trying to kill me."

"Harry, you shouldn't talk that way," Ginny said. "There are a lot of people who want you alive too."

"I'd bet more people want me dead, and eventually they're going to win." He shrugged away from Ginny, who looked rather hurt. She'd never seen this side of Harry - he'd always at least pretended to be cheerful around her. Hermione gave her a sympathetic look while Ron sighed in disgust.

_Harry, don't do this to me. I won't let you._

He curled away from her, pretending to ignore everyone so he wouldn't draw attention while talking to the voices in his head. _I really don't feel like talking right now._

_Too bad, Potter, because I'm in your head and there's nothing you can do about it._ They'd already tried blocking each other out of curiosity, and nothing either of them did seemed to be able to keep their minds their own. Harry searched desperately for something to change the subject.

_Can you see the inside of your own mind?_

Ginny's face contorted in confusion. She had to turn to look out the window and nearly squash her nose into it to hide her expression from the other two inhabitants of the compartment. _Can you be a bit more specific?_

Harry took a moment to respond, trying to figure out a way to say what he wanted while still sounding sane. _When we first talked, I started to be able to see into my own mind as if I was standing in it._

Ginny's eyebrow furrowed further as she searched her memories. _Something happened on the first night we talked and I felt like I was in a whole new world, but I didn't like it and I pushed it away. I don't think it was the inside of my mind though._

Harry's previous mood subsided in favor of curiosity, and a touch of trepidation. Whatever had been in that world, it had been bad enough to scare Ginny. _You should try going back there. It's actually fun once you get used to it. You're a little red ball in my head._

Ginny looked up at Harry in surprise even as Ron grumbled, "Is _anyone _going to say anything?"

Harry looked up as well, and the four students in the compartment exchanged uneasy looks. Harry really wanted to talk to Ginny alone, but he couldn't very well do that without explaining a lot to Ron and Hermione, and Ron wouldn't be too thrilled with his sister being alone with any boy, even if it was just Harry. He'd thought it was a little premature for Ron to be trying to keep boys away from her in that sense, but with how she was acting lately, he was also wondering if Ron had the right of it.

"I'd rather sleep, so I don't mind if you guys want to be quiet," Harry said. Sleeping would be a good cover to talk to Ginny, but the moment he thought of having a long conversation with her, he recoiled from the idea. He supposed he was being moody like Hermione sometimes implied, but he didn't care all that much at the moment.

"Fine." Ron stood and left the compartment, shutting the door a little harder than necessary behind him. Harry wondered what had hacked him off, but one look from Hermione and he decided against asking. Ron would be fine in a few minutes anyway; he always was. Ginny, on the other hand, he didn't know well enough to predict yet. She was obviously hurt by his treatment of her, and he knew he should talk to her about it and possibly apologize, but Hermione was going to make it awkward. The bushy-haired girl seemed reluctant to leave them alone, and when she pulled out her Arithmancy book, Harry knew his slim chance to let down the act disappeared.

"If Ron comes back, tell him I'm sorry for whatever I did."

Hermione looked up from her book, confused, and Harry felt Ginny's eyes on him without even looking.

"Well, it has to be my fault, since I don't remember either of you doing anything to make him angry."

Hermione bit her lip - she was thinking hard and was troubled about something. Harry wondered when he'd come to notice all of the mannerisms and subtle quirks about his best friends, but he didn't question his instincts. Perhaps that's what happened when you spent the better part of two years with the same two people in almost all of your waking hours, and this year didn't look to be much different.

"Harry, I think he's just confused. About you and Ginny."

_Uh oh._ Harry wasn't sure who had the thought first, but it echoed inside his head as if both he and Ginny had said it at the same time. "Why should he be confused? I'm allowed to have other friends."

Hermione shook her head, then glanced uneasily at Ginny. Obviously (to Harry, anyway) she didn't want to talk about the redhead in her presence. "I don't think he sees it that way. You've been best friends forever, and he's not used to sharing time with Ginny."

"You're my best friend too, Hermione, and you don't seem that bothered by it."

Again with the lip-biting. "I'm not bothered by it, but it does seem a bit unusual."

"That I want to be friends with Ginny?" A bit of anger swirled in his chest, and the creature that rested there poked its nose up. "She's actually pretty amazing, in my opinion."

Hermione turned her eyes to her shoes, looking slightly embarrassed and very uncomfortable. "Of course she is - you are." She threw a look at the younger witch. "It's just different, I suppose."

Harry had almost gotten the hot retort off his tongue when Ginny's voice echoed in his mind. _Harry, don't._ He closed his mouth and crossed his arms, obviously unhappy with the situation but willing to let Ginny explain herself. Hermione looked up, and her surprise showed on her face. Harry hadn't the faintest clue what she was surprised about - she'd deserved the lecture he'd had ready for her.

_She's just trying to adjust. She sees me as a threat to the Golden Trio, and for someone who loves things in proper order, it bothers her. Look at her. She's expecting you to yell at her even though she's just trying to talk to you about her feelings._

Harry didn't want to believe that either, but the truth in Ginny's words rang like a bell in his mind. There was nothing he could deny about Hermione's expression - she was surprised that he hadn't already started in on her. Harry realized he was spacing out again and cleared his throat, hoping the words would come.

"I'm sorry Hermione. You...you didn't deserve that."

Surprise turned to shock, which she tried to cover up as fast as possible with a warm smile. "Thank you Harry." She looked over at Ginny. "And Ginny, I am sorry for talking about you as if you weren't here. It's just unusual having other people around."

Ginny nodded. "I understand...and if you ever need time with just the three of you," she glanced between Hermione and Harry "Or just the two of you, I'll be happy to give you space."

Harry very nearly growled at her. Of course she would spin the situation so that she came off looking like an angel. From what she'd told him of life at the Burrow before Hogwarts (which, granted, wasn't all that much), she'd always worked to make her brothers look like the troublemakers and herself to look like the perfect daughter. Harry supposed that old habits died hard.

"I don't think that will be necessary, but it's kind of you to offer."

Harry tuned out the girls, who after a while started talking about the upcoming school year. He decided that sleep did sound good at the moment, and since he'd been up late thinking about the dangers Sirius Black posed, he could use a nice nap. It wasn't long until unconsciousness overtook him and he was fast asleep with his head resting against the compartment wall.

------

Some hour later, Harry was awakened by a nudge to his side. Upon cracking one eye open, he saw that it was Ginny who nudged him, and it looked completely unintentional at first glance, but nothing ever seemed to be that simple with her. The apparent cause for the nudge was the blonde that now took a seat on Ginny's other side and for whom Ginny was making room for.

Harry wondered for a moment who the blonde was. If he'd been asked to describe her in a word, it probably would have been pale. She had pale blue eyes that seemed to be bigger than they should be, her skin was a pale white that rivaled Harry after a week in the cupboard, and her eyebrows were such a pale blonde that Harry had wondered at first if she had any. Her dirty blonde hair that straggled down to her waist only enhanced this image, and it suddenly struck Harry that she very nearly glowed.

On top of all that, she didn't seem to be quite...present. Ginny gave her a bright "Hello Luna!", to which she nodded and glanced eerily around the compartment at the other four inhabitants, including Professor Lupin, who remained in the same spot he had before Harry fell asleep. Harry shut his eyes before those eyes could reach him, but she wasn't fooled.

"Hello Harry."

He felt Ginny turn and look at him before he heard her voice. "Luna, he's asleep."

"No, he's pretending to sleep. I thought it was rather obvious."

Pretending any longer wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he allowed his eyes to open once again. "I was just comfortable."

Ginny rolled her eyes, but didn't shirk her introduction duties. "Harry, this is Luna Lovegood. Luna - I'm sure you know who Harry Potter is." The last bit came out with a bit of smugness directed toward Harry, which he didn't miss.

"Nice to meet you Luna."

She nodded, and those pale blue eyes studied him rather intently, causing a shiver to run down his spine. "You're the one who killed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

Harry shifted uncomfortably. He wanted to deny it, to say that Voldemort was still out there, but he didn't think that would go over too well. "Er...yeah. That's what everyone says."

"Thank you." She nodded and pulled a magazine (_The Quibbler, _of course) out of her lap. She pulled it high enough to hide her face behind, and after turning it upside down, settled into her seat and fell silent.

_She's...weird._

_I told you she was, Harry. She's actually really nice, but no one ever talks to her enough to find that out._

_I can see why._

Ginny huffed and rolled her eyes, causing Harry to throw a furtive glance at Ron and Hermione. The other two seemed to be wrapped up in a heated but quiet discussion, one that had Hermione gesturing sharply and Ron looking rather put out. It wasn't anything new to have them bickering, but it was rather new to have them doing it quietly. Crookshanks was curled up at Hermione's feet, and Scabbers was nowhere to be found. Harry wondered if that was the source of their argument. Ron had complained to Harry the night before about the cat's antics in the pet store, and insisted that Scabbers was done for if Hermione was allowed to let "that stupid cat" out in the Gryffindor Tower.

_So what did you mean about seeing the inside of your mind?_

The voice came out of nowhere and surprised him, mostly because Ginny was looking over Luna's shoulder and at least pretending to be interested in whatever the blonde was reading. Harry once again marveled at her acting skills and settled for leaning his head back, pretending to sleep again as he replied.

_I don't know how to describe it. I'm doing it right now - I just relax, close my eyes, and imagine it, and it happens._

_How am I supposed to know what to imagine?_

_I did it by accident the first time, so I guess I knew. What do you think your mind would look like?_

There was a very long pause. _I don't know._

_Well, what do you want it to look like? It is your own head._ He said the last bit with a bit of humor, but she either didn't catch it or was too absorbed to respond to it.

_Oh...I...think I see it, but I still don't like it._

_Why not?_

_It's too weird. And really dark and scary._

Harry winced internally. There was nothing bright or beautiful about his own thoughts, but he didn't find them scary or menacing either. He wondered if Ginny would see the same thing if she looked at her mind a year ago before Voldemort had invaded it. _You don't have to do it, I just wanted to know if I was going mad._

_Harry, I think we're both going mad. We're talking to voices in our heads, and you say you can see the inside of your own mind._

_I can!_

_I can too, but it doesn't make us any less loony. Like Luna._

He didn't respond to her pointed jab. Instead he poked around inside his mind and saw it taking more and more shape as he examined it. He was standing on a soft blue surface that seemed to float in mid-air, and wherever he walked it appeared in front of him and disappeared behind him. The square he was standing on was about two meters square and felt soft and warm on his bare feet. It occurred to him that -

Whoa. Suddenly, the blue square and the black darkness vanished, and the scenery that took its place was something different entirely, and yet infinitely more familiar. It was an exact replica of his dormitory, except for a few small differences, and he was standing right next to his own four-poster bed. The lighting was dimmed, as if the room was diminishing its own importance, and there didn't seem to be any light coming in the windows. The light instead came from the same small objects floating around his head as before the scenery change, as well as from an all-directional yet unidentifiable source. One of the thoughts that immediately caught his attention was a familiar red ball that danced at the edges of his vision, and another was a ring of butterbeer caps. He let his thoughts center on the butterbeer caps, causing images and thoughts of Luna to flood his vision, ones he quickly pushed away and quieted. He hadn't taken special notice of her necklace until now, but now that it had become the blonde's representation in his head, he wasn't sure if he liked it all too much.

_Harry?_

It took him a moment to respond, but he extracted himself from his mind and quieted his thoughts. _Sorry. I got lost inside my head._

He risked a look over at the redhead, and she had a bemused expression on her lips while mimicking his sleeping position. _And how exactly did you do that?_

_I don't know. I think I can control what my mind looks like - before it was just an empty space filled with little objects, and now whenever I go there it's my room at Hogwarts._

_You can change what it looks like?_

_I think so._ Just before the room changed, it had occurred to him that his surroundings didn't feel as comfortable as he might have expected, but before he could even finish the thought the setting morphed itself into his home. With a moment of humor, he imagined the inside of Hermione's head would be a library with a bunch of books representing her thoughts.

_I can't stay long enough to change it..._

She sounded defeated, making Harry wonder. _What does it look like when you go in there?_

It was a very long moment before she responded. _The Chamber._

That explained why she had pushed it away, but it didn't explain why her mind would appear like that. Harry had always been comfortable in his own head and at peace with himself, if a little uncertain about what exactly what happening at first. Maybe the psychological damage she'd sustained was a lot deeper than either of them realized, and maybe she was locking herself out as a protection from...guilt? Perhaps this was the key to helping her truly get over what happened, rather than throwing a blanket over it. That's exactly what it seemed like - she was fine until she had to pull off that blanket and really think about what happened.

_I...I wish I could help._

_I know. I just can't go in there. The...the basilisk comes after me and I don't know how to stop it. And Tom is laughing at me._

Harry shivered involuntarily. _We'll figure this out, Ginny. I promise._

She didn't respond, causing Harry to look over at her. It looked as though she'd fallen asleep, but Harry knew better. She was probably wide awake, trying to avoid her own thoughts and think about anything besides the diary and Tom Riddle. Ron and Hermione seemed to be done with whatever they were arguing about and, oddly enough, were talking quietly and in friendly tones. Harry raised an eyebrow at that - perhaps if he spent more time with Ginny, Ron and Hermione would have to get over their bickering.

"So what were you two arguing about?"

Both snapped their heads up and looked rather guilty. Ron was the one to speak first. "Hermione wants me to sign up for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes."

Harry raised an eyebrow at the third member of their trio, who tinged pink. "I thought if we could all be in the same classes, it would be a lot easier for revising and coordinating study groups."

"Ron..." Harry pointed to the redhead "...in a study group?" The dubious look on Harry's face was enough to cause Ron to burst out laughing and Hermione to turn a brighter pink.

"I just thought..." She trailed off, looking sad. Ginny's warnings from earlier echoed in Harry's mind, and he instantly put on a serious face.

"Hermione, I know I appreciate the thought, even if Ron would only be a distraction."

Three sets of eyes locked on Harry in disbelief; even Ginny, who was supposed to be asleep, looked wide awake after that one.

"What?"

The other three just shook their heads and looked away, obviously not wanting to answer. Harry was beginning to wonder if he'd said the wrong thing when he saw the tension lines on Hermione's face recede and the corner of Ginny's mouth quirk upward in a small smile. Ron looked indifferent, but it was Hermione, after all.

The rain began to come down hard on the train and the clouds outside the window got darker and more ominous as the trip wore on. The food cart passed by without much enthusiasm, and they decided against waking Professor Lupin to see if he wanted any snacks. Harry considered buying some extra anyway, knowing that Ron would be delighted to eat them if Lupin didn't, but he decided against it given that the Professor seemed to be impossible to wake. Indeed, even as thunder boomed and raindrops the size of buckets hit the top of the compartment, the new teacher slept on and the five students carried on their conversations.

Somehow, Ginny wound up using the rain as an excuse to snuggle up to Harry and make the raven-haired wizard rather uncomfortable. He hadn't forgotten their conversation the night before, but it still seemed that he needed to make his point clear to her. After he'd told her he wasn't interested in her in a boy-girl sort of way, he had thought that she would back off and keep the affectionate gestures to a minimum, but if anything, it seemed to have encouraged her, especially when she knew he was irritated at her. Even Ron had noticed, if that said anything. Harry sat rather stiffly and uncomfortably, trying to convey that discomfort to his best friend. Luckily, he seemed to get it and offered a look of sympathy.

"Well, well. What do we have here?"

Harry had been so engrossed in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed Draco Malfoy slide the compartment door open.

"Shove off, Malfoy," Ron responded without looking up from sorting his Chocolate Frog cards. Crabbe and Goyle were present as always, but Harry paid them no attention. Regardless of the muscle that they were supposed to represent, they never really got to use it.

"Oh, but this is too good, Weasley. Has your sister finally found a way to get some gold for the family?"

That shocked the relative calm out of the cabin. Even Luna peeked over her copy of _The Quibbler_ to observe the scene.

"What's that supposed to mean, Malfoy?" Ron's gaze slipped over to Ginny, who was still resting against Harry rather comfortably. Harry had felt her fall asleep a while back, and he could only assume that she was still in the process of waking up.

"Oh, come on. Everyone knows Potter has more gold than brains. Perhaps Weaselette here could finally earn her keep."

Ron (and a moment later, Ginny) flamed a furious red, but he didn't get the chance to respond before Harry had his wand out and trained on Malfoy.

"Don't you ever let me hear you talk about her like that ever again."

His voice was low and cold, and it wouldn't have surprised him if someone had told him he was hissing in Parseltongue rather than English. Malfoy backed halfway out through the door before he had his own wand out, waving it in Harry's direction, but Hermione cut him off.

"You wouldn't want to start trouble in front of a Professor, would you?" Her gaze told Harry that she was as much talking to him as Malfoy. Ginny was wide awake by now and gripping Harry's arm in warning. Malfoy's eyes bounced over to Professor Lupin, and seemed to consider his options, but in the end he was perhaps a bit brighter than he looked.

"C'mon." Malfoy beckoned to Crabbe and Goyle, but he couldn't resist throwing one last sneer at Ginny before leaving. Ron looked ready go hunt him down in the corridor, but Harry slid his wand back into his cloak pocket and looked down at Ginny as Hermione blocked the door.

"I'm sorry about that," Harry said.

Ginny shook her head. "It's not your fault Malfoy is a prat." She pulled away from him and stretched, and then stood. "I'm going to go walk around - it's a little crowded in here." She slid past Hermione and out the door, through which Harry's eyes followed her until he couldn't see her any more.

"Look mate, I'm sorry about Ginny. She just doesn't know when to back off."

"It's all right."

Hermione looked as though she wanted to say something, but mercifully (for Harry) she bit her tongue and kept whatever it was to herself. Unfortunately, Luna wasn't quite as tactful, and in Harry's estimation, quite wrong.

"I'm not sure what you're apologizing for, Ronald. I think Harry is quite taken with Ginny."

Ron, much to Harry's surprise, rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and I'll be taking Lavender Brown to Hogsmeade any day now."

Harry snorted with laughter, but he was the only one. Hermione's expression was unreadable, and Luna looked rather thoughtful. "I always thought you two would be good for each other. It's only a matter of time."

Ron, to his credit, didn't make retching motions as far as Harry could tell. It was plain on his face that he thought Luna was as loony as everyone made her out to be, and Hermione's expression was even more unreadable. Harry grinned and looked out the window as a bolt of lightning flashed, and a few seconds later was followed by a loud crash of thunder, which was followed by an even louder growl of Ron's stomach. Even Hermione had to crack a smile at that.

"I can't wait until we get to the feast. We must be nearly there."

He hadn't even finished the sentence when they felt the train begin to slow down. Hermione's brow creased as she checked her watch. "But we can't be there yet. We still have another fifteen minutes before we're supposed to arrive."

Ron waved his hand dismissively and crept over to the window to watch for the carriages while Harry poked his head out into the hallway. He found that a lot of the other students were doing the same and wondered what was going on. He saw Ginny making her way back to the compartment and let her in as the train lurched to a stop, causing her to pitch into him and force him to catch her to keep her from falling. He'd just noticed the furious blush working its way across her face when all of the lamps extinguished.

Harry closed the door and felt his way back to his seat even as he felt Ginny clinging to him - this time out of real fear and not some playful game. To be quite honest, for once he was glad for her presence - the darkness was rather eerie even as he sat down and felt Ginny do the same, not quite in his lap.

Suddenly, the compartment door slid open again, and Harry felt something move past him into the room and stumble onto the floor.

"Ouch!"

"Neville?"

"Harry, is that you?"

Harry reached down, found the boy's cloak, and picked him up off the floor. "What's going on?"

"I...I don't know. I think something is coming onto the train. They're dressed in black and I can't see anything."

A grunt was heard from the far corner of the room. "Quiet."

The room fell into a hushed silence, and Harry felt someone else stand. Neville was suddenly pulled away and he heard the boy plop down into the far corner, obviously taking Professor Lupin's now vacated seat. A soft crackle of flames sounded, and a small blue fire appeared and illuminated the compartment with a dim light, and showed Lupin's haggard face. "Stay where you are. I'm going to find out what's going on." He reached for the door handle, but before he could open it, the door slid open of its own accord.

A black robed and cloaked figure stood in the doorway, a black hole that no light penetrated appearing where its face should be. The temperature in the room seemed to drop drastically, and Harry's eyes caught the tail end of a hand slipping back under the cloak, but it wasn't a living hand. It was cold, dead, and decayed, looking as though it belonged to a man five hundred years after his death.

Then it (whatever _it_ was) breathed. How Harry knew this, he hadn't the faintest clue, but he got the distinct feeling it was trying to suck the very life out of the room. Everything froze, and Ginny's grip on his arm became a death hold. Harry felt ice starting to grip his heart, and suddenly he was inside his own mind, running and hiding from that black robed presence. Images flashed before his eyes until it paused on one, and someone screamed.

_"-I'll do anything!" The voice is half-scream, half-sob and sounds desperate. A cold, heartless voice cuts in after it, the tone even more terrifying than a dementor's presence._

_"Stand aside girl!"_

_There is that high, cold laughter again that is all too familiar. Suddenly, it is joined by a much younger voice, but one that is oddly similar and echoes the first in its laughter._

_"You are mine, Ginevra. Your life will be well served in restoring my own."_

_Someone screamed again and all faded to black._

_------_

"Harry! Wake up!"

Someone was slapping his face, and it felt none too good. He could already feel his cheek starting to sting, but for some reason he couldn't get up the energy to hit whoever it was back. His eyes fluttered open and relief flooded through him as light from the lamps filled his vision and he could see Ron's face hovering above him.

"I'm fine," he mumbled, and attempted to sit up. It was a good thing that Ron was there to help him; he might not have made it otherwise.

"You sure? You were shaking pretty bad before you passed out."

Shaking? Passed out? "Who screamed?"

Ron looked a little confused. "No one screamed. You and Ginny were pretty messed up though. I mean, the rest of us weren't much better, but you two passed out." A dark look passed into his eyes when he spoke of Ginny, but Harry couldn't pin down the cause.

"Is she all right?"

Ron looked over at Hermione, who was helping a very shaken Ginny to her feet. Harry couldn't shake the look in her eyes as she turned down toward him - it was of terror and slight realization. Suddenly, Harry felt exactly as she did - the terror washed over his own emotions and Ron had to catch him before he fell over again.

"You sure you're all right mate?"

Harry took a deep breath and steadied himself against the wave of emotion. "Yeah, I'm sure." It had just surprised him; that was all. But if that was true, where did it come from?

Ron helped him to his feet and Harry noticed for the first time that the Hogwarts Express was moving again. Lupin and Neville were looking on with concern, and the elder man pulled something out of his pocket.

"Honeydukes' chocolate." He broke the massive bar into five smaller pieces, handing one to each of the students in the compartment except one. Luna seemed to be unaffected by the whole experience, or she was very good at hiding it. Now that Harry looked, he thought he could see a vague pain in her usually curious eyes, but it wasn't enough to go on in his rather shaky state. Ron pushed him into the seat and gave him one last look over before sitting next to him with the air of a bodyguard. Harry had to appreciate Ron in moments like this.

But unfortunately, that put Ginny all the way in the seat across from him next to Hermione. The worst was just looking at her - she looked as bad as he felt. The chocolate sat untouched in both of their hands, and they stared at each other without meeting eyes for the longest time. It was understood that they'd heard the same things, though Harry couldn't figure out what the first part was all about. The second voice was easy enough to figure out - Harry imagined that was what Tom said to Ginny before he forced her down into the Chamber of Secrets. But the first voice, that female pleading...

"I haven't poisoned the chocolate, you know." Lupin's eyes ran over both Ginny and Harry, the subtle hint hidden behind a somewhat amused expression. Harry looked down guiltily and took a small bite of his piece, and strangely, he felt as though it infused him with warmth and energy. He looked up, startled, and wondered what exactly was in the chocolate to make him feel like that.

"They were dementors, in case you were wondering." Lupin said as Hermione sucked in a breath and put a hand to her mouth. "From Azkaban. They were looking for Sirius Black. Now if you'll excuse me, I must go speak to the driver."

The teacher left the students alone, which made none of them feel any better judging by the uncomfortable looks that darted around the compartment. Harry finally met Ginny's eyes, asking a soft question without words.

_Are you all right?_

_Yeah._

But she wasn't. Harry could feel it. He could feel her fear and terror as if it was his own. He could feel that she was still horrified by that voice, by the laughter that had permeated Harry's dreams for as long as he could remember. He wondered vaguely if she'd ever stopped having dreams about the Chamber, because it was quite obvious she hadn't built up any defense against the after effects.

"What's a dementor?" Ron asked, looking over at Hermione, oblivious to Ginny's feelings. Harry wondered how he could ignore them when they were so glaringly obvious.

"They guard Azkaban." She looked slightly puzzled, as if Ron should know what they were. "They suck happiness from the life around them. They feed on it. I would assume that's why we all felt cold-"

"-And like we'd never be happy again," Ron finished. Now that Harry really looked, everyone in the room seemed rather pale, and that was doubly so for Ginny. It was impossible to tell with Luna because she was so pale already, but the girl didn't seem to be any different than usual.

At least he wasn't alone in passing out. Ginny seemed to be taking it as bad as he was, and that was slightly comforting, in a horrible sort of way. Slowly, he leaned back and ventured a trip into his subconscious, wondering what he would find after the attack. The dormitory was still there, but it had an even darker tent to it, and the walls seemed to radiate that same cold presence that the dementor had just a few minutes ago. He sought out Ginny's ball, but when he found it, it wasn't what he expected to find. Instead of the normal vibrant red, it was a dark crimson that spoke of blood and it was quite smaller than he remembered. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was it radiated a powerful terror that chilled Harry to the bone. He backed away from it and snapped back to the real world, his eyes finding Ginny's and nearly shrinking away from that same terror he saw in her eyes. The hard chestnut he'd seen the night before was gone, and the chocolate that used to sparkle was dead.

He shook his head, trying to relieve the fear that washed through him, but he couldn't. It seemed to be flowing right through him to his very core, like some poison that had no antidote. He searched for the source of the feelings, but came up empty. He was scared and confused about the dementors, but not terrified to the point of immobility. He risked another slip into semi-consciousness, and this time slowly felt out the source of the feeling. Realization hit him like a bludger - the terror was radiating from Ginny's place in his mind. He must be feeling Ginny's emotions as well as his own. Normally, a thought like that would never occur to him, but after sharing such a close bond with her over the past few months, he didn't rule out anything.

Harry looked over at the redhead, but her gaze was empty and hollow. He didn't know what she was thinking, but it couldn't have been anything good. He wondered what this meant, if he was feeling her emotions. Certainly it meant their bond was growing, but why? Why would the bond grow like that? The only answer Harry could come up with was their experience with the dementor, but that didn't answer his question.

He slipped back into semi-consciousness and found Ginny's ball again, locking his jaw against the horrible aura that surrounded it. For the first time since its appearance in his mind over two months ago, he reached out and touched it, attempting to project the same feelings he had the night before that had calmed her so well. He held the ball in the palm of his hand, and with considerable effort, he pushed away the fear that dominated him and forced a calm, comforting feeling into the ball in the same way he would talk to her countless times over the summer.

Slowly but surely, the terror began subsiding, and a hesitant courage started to come back at him. For the first time since seeing the dementor, Harry let the corners of his lips stray from their frown and the tension in his shoulders relaxed ever so slightly. Much to his surprise, the ball lightened and became closer to the color that he had grown to expect of it, and it grew to be almost its normal size inside of his palm. He'd never affected something in his mind like that (sans the actual setting), and it made him wonder even more what all this meant.

"Harry?"

The voice was far off and rather unimportant, so he ignored it. Instead, he tried to figure out what had just happened. The dementor had come into the room, he and Ginny had passed out and shared the same vision, and then they'd woken up and now he could feel what she was. It didn't make sense at all. There was also the sheer discomfort of it (Harry wasn't so sure he liked being able to _feel_ Ginny), but that wasn't as important as why this was happening.

"Harry!"

The voice became insistent and sharp, and jolted him back to reality. Ron and Hermione were leaning over him, looking rather strange and worried.

"We're here. I think you passed out again."

Ron had no idea, and Harry felt no reason to disillusion him. He was burning to tell Ginny about what he'd seen and felt, but he couldn't in front of Ron and Hermione, and they had to focus on getting up to the castle. The quartet exited the train, though Harry was not quite present mentally, and Ginny looked like a zombie Harry had caught an image of when Dudley was watching a horror movie a few years ago. Even considering the circumstances (and perhaps because of the circumstances), Harry was not surprised to hear Draco's smooth voice over the general hum of the students.

"Is it true Potter? Did you really _faint_?"

Trust Malfoy to make everything worse at the worst possible moment.

"Shove off, Malfoy," Ron said, standing between Harry and Draco. Again, Harry had to appreciate Ron's protectiveness, if it was a little unusual to have it directed at him. Whatever had happened on the train, it must have been really bad for Ron to go to all the trouble.

"I heard Weaslette fainted too. Could she just not stand the thought of Potter getting kissed?" Draco and his two thugs seemed to find this very funny. Harry wondered what the Slytherin meant, but whatever it was, it seemed to set Ron off again.

"Look Malfoy, if you make one more crack about my sister, I'll..."

"You'll do what, Weasley?" Draco sneered. "Wave a wand at me and start belching slugs?"

Ron turned furiously red as Draco sniggered. Harry glanced at Ginny, but she didn't seem nearly as concerned as he did about Draco's taunting. She didn't even look as though she could hear him.

"Is there a problem here?"

Thank Merlin for Professor Lupin, worn robes and all.

"Er – no – _Professor._" Malfoy drew his eyes up and down Lupin's tall frame condescendingly, then made his way toward the carriage line along with Crabbe and Goyle. Lupin turned to Harry and raised an eyebrow. "All right there, Harry?"

He didn't ask how the Professor knew his name. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good." The Professor gave him a pat on the shoulder and moved on up the line of students. Ron still looked about ready to burst, but Harry returned to this thoughts and found Malfoy quite easy to ignore.Hermione called them over to an empty carriage, which the trio, Ginny, Neville, and Luna all shared on the way up to the castle. It was a quiet ride, but hopefully everyone just put it down to the not easily forgotten presence of the dementors. After leaving the carriages behind, the steps to the Entrance Hall were graciously Malfoy free, and Harry had just glimpsed the enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall when he heard a sharp voice behind him.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Miss Weasley! I'd like to see you in my office!"

Professor McGonagall, in all of her glory, marched through the crowd of students toward the quartet. Regardless of everything that had happened, Harry wondered how many house points he was about to lose before term even started. McGonagall had that effect on people.

"Don't worry, it's nothing serious. I'd just like a quick word." Her voice was quieter, but no less insistent. "Move along, Mr. Weasley."

Hermione, Harry, and Ginny shared an uneasy glance before following the Deputy Headmistress up a staircase and into her office, taking a seat in wooden chairs at her gesture.

"Professor Lupin sent word you had fallen ill on the train?" Her gaze made it obvious that she wasn't talking to Hermione. Harry flushed red, wondering if he and Ginny were really worth all the fuss. It was bad enough with Malfoy hearing about it, and now he was getting special treatment from McGonagall? He _felt_ a wave of nervousness from Ginny, so he answered.

"Er, yes Professor." He didn't get a chance to explain as Madam Pomfrey bustled in, looking very harassed.

"Oh, it's you again, is it? Doing something dangerous, I expect?" She clucked disapprovingly.

"It was a dementor, Poppy."

The nurse looked over Harry once again, and he would have sworn her expression softened. As she checked over Harry and Ginny, the nurse muttered under her breath about dementors and how they shouldn't be set around a school full of children, and how he and Ginny wouldn't be the only ones to pass out, which made Harry feel slightly better. She pulled a bar of chocolate from her pocket, but Harry waved it off.

"I've already had some."

"Have you?"

"Professor Lupin gave it to me."

Pomfrey visibly brightened. "A Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor who knows his remedies? I never thought I'd see the day." She glanced at Ginny, who took the chocolate in spite of already having some on the train. Harry didn't think it would be a good idea to mention it.

"Are you sure you're all right Potter?"

Harry nodded. "I'm fine, Professor."

"Weasley?"

Ginny nodded, but she didn't look even as well as her nod suggested. Harry prayed that they wouldn't keep her any longer, but oddly, Hermione seemed to be nudging him and trying to get his attention. He turned to her with an curious look on his face, and her eyes bounced between him and McGonagall, trying to tell him something, but he hadn't the faintest clue what. Finally, she decided to make it very obvious.

"Professor McGonagall? It it possible for Harry to get his schedule changed since the term hasn't begun yet?"

Oh, that. He wondered how she could even think about something like that after what happened, but Harry was thankful all the same.

McGonagall fixed him with a piercing stare, as if trying to discern Hermione's purpose in asking. "Whatever for, Mr. Potter?"

Hermione gave him an encouraging smile. "Actually, I've decided that I might want to take Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. I just wanted to know if there was a way I could switch into those classes. Hermione signed up for way more courses than I did, and I thought it might be possible since she would have to work it out too."

McGonagall's eyes flashed over to Hermione for a moment, then closed as if she was thinking. She was silent for a long few moments, and then gazed at Harry over the top of her spectacles. "You would have to be willing to drop Divination to accommodate the scheduling, but if you are willing, I'm sure Professors Vector and Lorne would be happy to instruct you."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He was willing to give up Care of Magical Creatures, but he was glad he didn't have to. "Thank you, Professor."

"I presume you can borrow Miss Granger's texts until you can mail order your own copies?"

"Actually, I already have my own. Hermione gave me the names while we were in Diagon Alley."

McGonagall arched an eyebrow in surprise, but said nothing of it. "Very well then. If you would stand outside, I need to have a word with Miss Granger, then we can all go down to the feast together."

Harry and Ginny stood and left, followed by Madam Pomfrey who (after checking them over one last time, much to Harry's displeasure) hurried off back to the Hospital Wing. Harry immediately turned to Ginny and fixed her with a not so soft gaze. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Ginny nodded. "You...you know exactly how I feel, don't you?"

Somehow, she'd already guessed what he had. "I think so. I tried to help and comfort you, but I don't know if it worked. Something really weird happened in my mind that I'll have to tell you about later when we have time."

"That was you?"

Harry blinked. "If we're talking about the same thing."

"I...You know how it felt, after that dementor came in. After I sat back down, I couldn't move I was so scared, but then I felt something comforting me, like there was someone right beside me telling me it was going to be all right, and that I believed him. It felt better than even the chocolate."

Harry nodded. "I did the best-" He stopped as the office door opened once again and Hermione came out looking very happy about something. The four of them made their way down the marble staircase to the Great Hall, and Ginny made a pointed effort to stand right next to Harry the entire way. It was a good thing that Hermione was distracted by whatever was making her so happy, because he didn't feel like getting grilled over the feast about something going on between the two of them. For once, he wasn't hiding anything - there really wasn't anything going on. Well, that he could tell Hermione. Okay, maybe that was hiding something.

In any case, Ron had saved them seats at Gryffindor table. Harry and Ginny (by no accident) wound up on one side of Ron and Hermione wound up on the other. Harry started to explain what happened in the office when Dumbledore stood for his start of term speech, so he fell silent and gestured at the old Professor.

The vibrant Headmaster explained what Harry had already figured out for himself - the dementors were not something to play around with. The warnings alone were enough to inspire Harry to stay in the castle and away from the Forbidden Forest, reinforced by his own experience with the awful beings. He hadn't even considered using his Invisibility Cloak against them - it wouldn't do him any good if he passed out the moment he saw them.

The one announcement that did catch Harry off-guard was Hagrid's appointment as Care of Magical Creatures Professor. His birthday gift made a lot more sense now, and Harry was happier than ever about keeping it on his schedule. He didn't think he'd ever be able to live down the shame if Ron and Hermione turned up for the class and he didn't.

The feast went on usual, and after eating their fill on everything that came to mind (and perhaps more than their fill on the deserts), the Gryffindors were herded up to the tower with nothing on their minds except a warm bed and a full night's sleep.

Harry got up to the dormitory at the same time as his roommates, changed at the same time, and even slipped under the covers at the same time, but he could not sleep as they did. It wasn't Ron's (or Neville's) snores that got to him - he'd long since grown used to that. No, it was all of the thoughts running around in his head that he couldn't seem to get rid of. Thoughts about his and Ginny's connection, why this all had happened, and where it was all going. Harry wasn't normally one to think about the future, but he couldn't help but ponder it now, in the comfort of his own bed.

Ginny was already asleep or he would have tried to talk to her about it. How she'd been able to doze off that fast was beyond Harry, but deep down he was glad she was able to sleep, even if he wasn't able to. He laid awake for a long while, suddenly trying not to think about his relationship with Ginny and all of the confusion is presented. Even so, it had to be reaching the early hours of the morning before he finally drifted off to sleep.

------

_The Chamber was dark and somehow even more ominous this time around. It was definitely colder this time, which Harry felt bite against his skin even in the absence of wind, and the walls seemed to echo the presence of a dementor much like his mind had back on the train. He looked wildly around, but he saw no black cloaked figures, or any figures at all. It seemed he was alone._

_The scene had that same life-like quality that his first shared dream with Ginny had, but there was nothing indicating the presence of her past or current self. Harry took a few small steps toward the massive statue of Salazar Slytherin and wondered what he was doing here. It made sense that Ginny would dream about the Chamber, but up until that one night, he'd never had nightmares about the events of his second year at Hogwarts. His nightmares were always worse than this._

_The only thing Harry could assume was Ginny wasn't in the dream, or hadn't come into the room yet, but that didn't explain anything in his mind. There had to be a purpose for his presence, but he hadn't the faintest idea what that might be. He took a seat on Slytherin's foot, holding his head in his hands and trying to think. The last thing he wanted was to be alone with Ginny - after her not-so-subtle displays of affection and constant presence, he needed some room to breathe._

_The Chamber's silence grew deeper as Harry lost himself in thought. His skin crawled and led him the cloak he found himself in tighter around his body, hoping to ward off the chill and innate darkness of the place. He closed his eyes, attempting to find some place of warmth in his body, but he was interrupted by a familiar voice._

_"Hello Harry."_

_It sounded so normal that Harry shivered without prompting from the cold. His eyes snapped open to find Ginny standing in front of him, wrapped similarly in a dark cloak and looking down at him._

_"Are we dreaming again?"_

_She blinked, as if she hadn't considered the question. "I suppose so. If we are, we're dreaming about my mind. This is exactly what it feels like." As if to punctuate her statement, she shivered and pulled the cloak tighter. Harry didn't blame her for pushing it away._

_"So I'm inside your mind?"_

_She shook her head. "I don't think so. If we were, the basilisk would come after us."_

_"...The basilisk?"_

_She nodded. "I get maybe a minute before it does, and then I have to leave." She slowly walked over to Slytherin's other foot and sat on the inside of it, facing Harry. "I just don't come here when I have a choice."_

_The deadness of her feelings came across more than her actual words. It felt to Harry like she'd given up, that she had already accepted this as her place in life, that she was both twelve and a hundred-and-twelve years old at the same time. Harry felt a small flame of anger deep inside of him at Voldemort for taking Ginny's childhood away from her._

_"Are you angry with me?"_

_Harry blinked. This was definitely going to take some getting used to. "No, Ginny. I'm angry with Voldemort."_

_She still hadn't met his eyes, and now her gaze drifted even lower as she studied the mud on her shoes silently. Harry searched for something to take her mind off it._

"_So I guess I won't be able to keep anything from you anymore, will I?" He'd meant it as a slight jest, but from the look on Ginny's face, she'd taken it as anything but._

"_I'll try not to notice if you don't want me to."_

_Harry sighed. "I just think this is moving way too fast. I mean, two months ago we hardly knew each other, and now I'm sharing things with you that I have no control over."_

_She put her face in her hands, and Harry felt a dull ache roll through their connection. "I'm sorry, Harry. It doesn't make it any better, but I don't want you to have to go through this either."_

_Harry shook his head in confusion, wondering how she made such leaps in thought without any evidence. "I might be a little afraid of how fast this is happening, but I never said I wanted to go back to the way it was."_

"_Don't...please, Harry, don't lie to me. I can feel it."_

"_I'm not lying to you Ginny!" Harry's tongue acted before he could think and he regretted the sharp tone, and even more the frustration she had to have felt. "Please understand that I wouldn't go back – this feels too right to me, like it was supposed to happen. I'm just scared. I've never been this close to anyone, and I feel like I'm being forced into something." What that something was, he hadn't a clue, but he had come to that realization just before falling asleep. Perhaps the acceptance was what allowed him to finally slip away._

_Unfortunately, whatever was going through her mind at the moment, she couldn't accept that he was telling the truth. "Even if you do feel that way, I didn't want this to happen. I'd give anything to go back, to keep you from feeling what I do."_

_Harry felt a dull pain in his chest for her, longing to know what he could do to help and yet having no idea where to find such knowledge. He was aware that Ginny could feel the same things he did, just as he felt the acceptance and complacent despair in her heart._

_"You know that's not true. Not really." It was a feeling - a hunch, really - but the look on her face confirmed it._

_"It doesn't matter what I want anymore. I'm not going to let my problems drag you down."_

_She said it like she actually believed it, and Harry knew that she probably did. "It doesn't have to be this way. You can't let Voldemort win."_

_She looked up, still not meeting his eyes, but gazing somewhat in the direction of his chest. "I don't think so Harry. I don't know how to fight it. I'll understand if you don't want to be around me because of this."_

_He almost wished she was crying - it certainly would have been a lot easier to deal with than this...this apathy. "Even if I didn't, I don't have a choice, Ginny. I feel everything you feel. This isn't going to go away for either of us. We have to fight it."_

_She met his eyes for the first time. "How, Harry? How are we supposed to fight something that's killing me from the inside?"_

_"I...I don't know." Harry's shoulders slumped. "What happens if the basilisk catches you?"_

_For the first time, Harry felt something other than cold nothingness from her - it was a flicker of fear. "I don't want to find out."_

_That sentiment was followed by a long silence, which was extremely uncomfortable but Harry couldn't think of anything to break it. He was just working out how to tell Ginny she should try to fight the basilisk when he felt a surge of surprise, followed by understanding._

_"I'm going back to sleep."_

_He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to that. It was an odd statement, considering that they were already in a dream. "I'll see you in the morning."_

_She nodded, looking and feeling more miserable than ever. "See you, Harry."_

_She faded out of existence, and before Harry had time to contemplate what had happened, he felt his own consciousness fade to black._

------

_**A/N:** Once again, thank you to all of you who reviewed - reviews are like a warm blanket on a cold winter evening. I do want to mention one of my anonymous reviews since I can't respond via message (by asdfjkl;) - I'm not a hard person to amuse, and it only took four characters to make me smile._

_Just a note for the next update - I have to be out of town for a few days, so it might be a couple extra days for me to write and post chapter four._


	4. The Library

**4: The Library**

"You can't be serious!"

Harry looked up from his pastry and over at Ron to see what the redhead was talking about. He'd slept like a rock for the first time in a good while, and he'd come down to the Great Hall for breakfast with Ron and Hermione just like he had done for the past two years, He'd only given Ginny a cursory thought before pushing Ron through the portrait hole. Even through their special bond, he couldn't feel whether she was awake or not, and if she was, it didn't seem like she was in any mood to talk. Instead, he'd proceeded down from the tower with his two best friends and found some security in the sheer normalcy of it all; at least some things weren't changing faster than he could say magic.

"How do you have time for all those classes?" Ron asked wondrously.

Percy had just come down the Gryffindor breakfast table with his shining Head Boy badge pinned prominently to his chest, handing out schedules and telling everyone they shouldn't be late for their first class of the new year. After checking out his own, Ron had apparently taken it upon himself to take a look at Hermione's.

"I've fixed it with McGonagall, Ron. Now pass the marmalade, please?"

Hermione quickly hid her schedule before Ron could protest any more, and refused to respond to any more questions about her seemingly overwhelming course load. For reasons that Harry could only begin to guess at, it seemed to be a touchy subject for her.

"What do you have first, Ron?" Harry asked, attempting to head off another argument. Harry already knew he had Arithmancy, but he didn't know what Ron would be taking while he was there. He supposed Divination. Much to his surprise, the redhead turned pink around the ears and mumbled something unintelligible. Hermione smirked, but she made no comment.

"What was that Ron?"

"I said I have Arithmancy."

Harry's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "Since when?"

Ron reached back and ran a hand through his hair. "Hermione asked McGonagall for me when you two got called up to her office." He shot a dark look at the third member of their trio. Harry vaguely remembered them arguing about something like that on the train, but then again, Ron and Hermione bickered so much it would have been weird to not have them arguing.

Ginny took that moment to make an appearance, sliding into a seat next to Hermione and across from Harry and Ron. She didn't look too well and was still rubbing sleep from her eyes as she reached for food with her other hand. By the way she looked, Harry wouldn't have been surprised if she had come down still wearing her pajamas.

"Rough night?"

She looked up and nodded slightly, but didn't say anything. Harry could tell she was feeling tired and a more than a little touchy, so he didn't press the issue. Ron, however, did.

"She's always grouchy in the morning. It'll be noontime before she perks up."

Harry felt..._felt_ a flare of irritation from Ginny. He could tell she wanted to lash out at her brother, but remarkably, she held back and went about her breakfast in silence.

"Kind of like you before you've had breakfast?" Hermione asked smugly.

Thank the Gods for Hermione. Harry had been about to tell Ron to lay off Ginny, but coming from Hermione, it wouldn't sound as odd. Ron rolled his eyes, but before he could respond, another familiar yet unwelcome voice sounded from behind Harry.

"Hey Potter! The dementors are coming! _Woooooooo!_"

Harry turned to see Draco Malfoy doing his best fainting impression, much to the delight of the Slytherin table. He scowled, but someone kicked him under the table before he could think of anything to say back.

"Ignore him, Harry. He's not worth it."

"Come off it Hermione, someone needs to put him in his place," George offered from a few seats down.

"Yeah, he wasn't looking too good when he came running into our compartment," Fred said, pouring a bit of pumpkin juice into his goblet.

Harry didn't bother to respond; he was too busy taming his own irritation. Between Ginny looking like she'd been through another dementor attack, Ron being insensitive, and Malfoy being Malfoy, he didn't know how much he could take before he exploded. He couldn't ever remember feeling like this before - normally he was slow to anger and had a big bang at the end - but now he was feeling extremely irritated with no discernable cause.

_It's me, Harry. I'm feeling irritated, and you're feeling it too._

How in the world she knew what he was feeling...oh. It was obvious when she put it that way. _How did you know that's what I was thinking?_

_Guessed. You were feeling irritated and confused, and that was the only thing you could feel confused about. Other than Hermione's schedule, but you haven't seen it yet._

Harry's mind spun at the change in subject, but he didn't let him get sidetracked. _You mean you can feel my emotions too?_

_It isn't a one way relationship._

"Hey, you going to stare at it or eat it?"

Harry looked up to find Ron eyeing his half-empty plate. "No, go on, you can have it."

Ron gave him a curious look, but took the plate and soon drowned his curiosity in food. Harry sighed and put his face in his hands, more than a little distressed. _I can't do this Ginny - I can't just be irritated all the time. I'd be dangerous._

_I won't be irritated all the time, so you won't have to feel it from me. And there has to be a way to block it out._

_We've tried that, remember?_

_I know, but maybe we weren't trying hard enough. Or not doing it right. We can go to the library and look for something that might help._

That was the most beautiful thing Harry had heard all morning. Of course the library would have something to help - it had everything. His initial impulse was to ask Hermione for help going through all the books, but he squelched that idea before it took hold. The girl was already suspicious enough of them without having to help with research that she couldn't know why she was doing. Still, the thought of finding out what exactly what going on between himself and Ginny brightened his mood considerably.

_See, you feel better already._

He could hear the amusement in her voice, but better yet, he could _feel_ it. _I don't think I'll ever get used to this. I don't know if I like you reading my mind._

_You better start, because I think you're going to have to live with it for a long time._

Harry wasn't sure whether that thought excited him or scared him. It would be nice to have a best friend around all the time, but then again, there were things such as privacy and time alone. If Ginny was in his head for the rest of eternity, he knew there would be times he just wanted to get away for a while, but with how things were going, even that might not even be possible. They would always know what the other was feeling, they'd be able to talk to each other any time they pleased, and no amount of distance or anything else could stop them. They'd found that out during the summer.

Regardless, after breakfast the trio left Ginny at the breakfast table and headed off to the Arithmancy classroom. Hermione chattered away about having read the textbook from back to front and hoping it would help her do well in the class, leaving Ron and Harry to nod, smile, and mumble unintelligent things every so often. She seemed to be a fountain of knowledge, a fact that Harry found comfort in. If it was half as difficult as she was suggesting, he would need her help quite often.

------

By the end of the class, Harry had heard all he ever wanted to hear about numbers for the rest of his life. He tried to remind himself that he was taking it for a reason and that he needed to do well to have a chance at curse-breaking, but after a class like that he wasn't sure if he wanted to go after that career position any more. It didn't help that Hermione was positively beaming and going on about how it was the best class she'd had since she'd started school the year before last. Professor Vector did seem to be a competent teacher (Harry had too many of the incompetent variety to expect as much), but at least Ron was there to grumble on his behalf.

_So how'd it go?_

Harry sighed inwardly. He didn't exactly want Ginny to be silent, but it would be nice having his head to himself. Over the summer he'd welcomed her presence and enjoyed it whenever he could, but now that he was back at Hogwarts and he had other things on his mind, he wasn't sure that having Ginny talking to him at every possible moment would be such a good thing. Sometimes he just wanted to rest.

_Not bad. I don't ever want to hear about numbers again though._

_Oh, all right. Well, I guess I'll talk to you later._

_Wait, why?_

_You're annoyed at me._

Harry quickly clamped down on his feelings and tried to project a sense of, well, something besides annoyance. _I'm not annoyed at you - Hermione is going on and on about how that was a wonderful class._ In his distraction, Harry was nearly ran over by a sixth year Ravenclaw and drew a glance from Ron, who'd been trying for the past minute to head Hermione off on her Arithmancy worshipping. He finally got his reprieve when Hermione said something about going to use the loo, which at her insistence, allowed Ron and Harry to head to Transfiguration alone.

"So why did you sign up for that class again?" Ron asked, looking more than a bit exasperated.

Harry figured it wouldn't be any use to keep Ron in the dark about his future plans. He had enough to keep hidden as it was. "Because it's recommended for curse-breaking."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"I don't know, it just sounds interesting. You sounded like you had a lot of fun in Egypt."

"Er...yeah, I did, but I don't think I'd want to _be _one."

Harry didn't answer, but instead looked ahead of him and pretended to study the moving staircases. That was another facet of his and Ginny's relationship - it have him a whole new perspective on things. He'd always gone along with Ron with everything, assuming he couldn't be too bad off if he had his best friend on his side, but with Ginny's opinion (and Hermione's, if he'd bother to cut through all the academia), he was starting to see things differently.

"What do you want to be then?"

Ron shrugged. "I dunno. I suppose I'll have to decide sometime. I reckon I could play professional Quidditch if I'm good enough."

Harry hadn't considered that as a career option either. "Well, I guess I could do that too. I don't know how many more numbers I can take, and we haven't even started Ancient Runes yet."

Ron brightened at the thought of playing Quidditch and launched into a discussion (with himself) over where he should begin trying out and what he could do to improve his keeping. He'd always wanted to be a keeper (except when he wanted to be a chaser, or a beater), and Harry was happy to indulge him with nods and vague suggestions in all the right places while still giving enough attention to Ginny's voice.

_What do you have after lunch?_

Harry focused on Ron and tried to appear interested, which wasn't too hard considering the redhead's level of distraction when talking about Quidditch. _Care of Magical Creatures._

_I was hoping we could go to the library because I have a free period, but I guess that'll have to wait._

_You could go without me._

_No, I wouldn't even know where to begin. And besides, this involves both of us. I don't want to leave you out of something that might be important._

Harry smiled and had to play it off as encouragement of one of Ron's imaginary practice schedules. _All right. Maybe we can go before dinner._

_Okay._

An odd finality passed between them - a feeling, really, that they both agreed that the conversation was over, and yet there wasn't an awkward silence where Harry wondered if she was going to say something more. That had happened enough over the summer that he had grown wary of those silences, but perhaps sharing feelings (as involuntary as it was) had its strong points.

------

The rest of the day was pretty normal for Harry. He trudged his way through Transfiguration, ate lunch with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, and got through his Care of Magical Creatures class without incident, Draco's insults to Buckbeak and the hippogriff's ensuing retaliation aside. He knew Malfoy would somehow turn his injury into something foul and nasty just to get at Hagrid, but for the moment he took a perverse pleasure in seeing the Slytherin injured and in the Hospital Wing. After classes, the trio headed up to the Gryffindor common room, with Hermione looking abnormally exhausted. It looked as though she'd had a very long day, but Harry couldn't remember anything that should have taken that much out of her. To his surprise and eventual dismay, she didn't even so much as sit down in the common room before pulling out her Arithmancy and Divination books and glancing at the portrait hole.

"I think I'm going to go down to the library and get in a little extra research."

Harry froze. The last thing he wanted was Hermione looking over his and Ginny's shoulder while they did research of their own, but he couldn't very well tell Hermione Granger that she couldn't use the library. Ron rolled his eyes and shrugged - Hermione spending extra time in the library was nothing new.

"Care for a game of chess, Harry?" He gestured toward one of the tables just as Ginny climbed through the portrait hole, looking better than she had all day but still not quite herself. She gazed around the common room and found Harry, striding over and setting her bag down next to the trio's before forcing a smile.

"Er, I was thinking about going down to the library with Hermione. It wouldn't hurt to get a little ahead."

Both Ron and Hermione (who had already turned to leave) stared at him in shock. Ron looked as though he wanted badly to say something, but for once he held his tongue and merely looked uncomfortable.

"I don't know how good of company I'll be Harry," Hermione said.

"I can go down and keep him company, if that's a problem," Ginny supplied helpfully, and Harry grimaced. He could only imagine how Ron might have taken that.

"We could all go down and have a study session..." Hermione offered, looking at Ron and trying to diffuse the awkward situation. She looked nearly as uncomfortable as Harry.

"Nah, I'd rather stay up here. You three go have fun though."

Harry didn't even give it a second thought - there were plenty of times he and Ron went out to the Quidditch Pitch and left Hermione in the library to study - surely Ron could entertain himself for one night. Ginny was right behind him with eagerness rolling off her like a huge lantern. Hermione was the only one who paused - she looked back at Ron and bit her lip, her eyes bouncing between Harry and Ginny's backs and the redhead's obvious frustration.

"Maybe we can have a few games of chess when we get back?" It was a feeble attempt at repairing the situation, but on par for Ron and Hermione's relationship, it only seemed to make things worse.

"Yeah. Sure." Ron turned away and stalked up the boy's staircase, off to do who knew what. Harry felt vaguely guilty for the whole mess, seeing as it was his fault for wanting to go to the library with Ginny, but this wasn't something that he wanted to wait on. He could tell Ginny wanted to wait even less. They were nearly out of the portrait hole before Hermione even began to follow them, and were starting down another staircase by the time she caught up to them.

"You shouldn't have come down with me."

Harry shrugged. "He could have come along."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Harry, term has just started. There's nothing that will get Ron in a library right now."

"His loss."

She fell silent and gave up the fight, but Ginny had no such plans._ Why are you so irritated at Ron?_

_Because he's being a prat._

_How? He's never liked books, libraries, or school in general. What else to you expect him to do?_

_Oh, I don't know, accept that I don't always want to do the things he does?_

Like almost all retorts Harry made in the heat of an argument, it was out before he could stop it. He wished desperately he could have it back, but he knew that Ginny wouldn't let that go by unquestioned. But apparently she was, or she possibly didn't know what to say because she didn't reply. Her enthusiasm dampened as a sadness crept its way into her feelings, but Harry barred the thoughts from his mind. In fact, he tried barring his own feelings from his mind as well - he didn't need his irritation at Ron leaking over into her, or his discomfort at having Hermione around when they were trying to research something private.

The rest of the walk to the library was a weird silence, punctuated only by Hermione once they were in the library itself and standing next to a table with their bags laid upon it.

"Okay, so what's the real reason you wanted to come down here?"

Harry put on his best innocent face. "Why would I need a reason? I do have some hard classes, and I'm sure Ginny has something she could work on."

Hermione shook her head. "Honestly Harry, that's not going to work with me. I'd almost say you two just wanted to come down here to get away from Ron." Her gaze glanced suspiciously from Harry to Ginny. Harry had almost thought of a sarcastic response when Ginny beat him to it.

"All right Hermione, you caught us. We came down here to have a good snog. Maybe you could show us the best place?" Her voice was flooded with a dark sarcasm, taking the brown-haired witch off-guard. Harry wondered if it was a little of his own irritation in her voice, but regardless, it was his turn to do damage control.

"Don't listen to Ginny, Hermione." He threw a warning look at the redhead. "We're just tired of people questioning our friendship."

Much to his surprise, Hermione didn't seem that disturbed by Ginny's tone, just surprised. "Don't you hear what you're saying, Harry? _We're _tired? _Our_ friendship? It's pretty obvious by the way you talk and act that there's something going on between you two."

Ginny opened her mouth to reply, but Harry thought it was best that he didn't let her. "There's nothing between us but friendship, Hermione."

"You've become quite good friends in such a short time."

"Yeah, well, near-death experiences do that to people."

At least she had the grace to look a little ashamed. She no doubt caught the dual reference to both the Chamber and to the toll attack during the trio's first year at Hogwarts. "I...I'm sorry if I've offended you. Either of you."

Harry softened and tried to smile warmly. He wasn't any good at this sort of thing, but he didn't trust Ginny to handle it properly after her acidic remark. "No offense taken, just back off a little and let us have some space. We're trying to work things out ourselves."

Hermione blinked. "All right, I'll try, but I can't just ignore this. Think about what you just said, and tell me that doesn't sound, well, odd."

In fact, Harry did notice, and judging from the reluctant acceptance coming from Ginny, so did she. He was speaking for the both of them, and was completely comfortable with it, and Ginny seemed to have no objections. Leave it to Hermione to pick up on his use of certain pronouns, but once she pointed it out, even Harry couldn't deny her conclusions. It was something else he had to watch out for in trying to keep his and Ginny's connection a secret.

"Why don't you try and explain Arithmancy to me again? I'm still not sure how it could possibly be needed for curse-breaking."

Hermione looked perplexed again. "Curse-breaking?"

Oops. The only person he'd told about that particular goal was Ron. He hadn't wanted to mention it to Hermione because she'd somehow hold it over his head to make him do work, or supply him with endless reading material that he really didn't want to read but would feel obliged to at least look at.

"Yeah. I heard all about the Weasley's trip to Egypt, and curse-breaking actually sounds like a really cool job. I mean, you get to see all these ancient things that people dreamed up, and I'm sure there's some really cool magic used to protect them." He broke off, looking curiously at Hermione's growing smile. "What?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I do believe you've developed a passion."

"A...passion?"

Hermione rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Yes, Harry, a passion. You know, something that you want to do and you study because it's _fun_. Not all work has to be dreadfully boring."

Harry glanced at Ginny. _That's debatable._ She fought the smile that tried to work its way onto her face, with mild success. Regardless, deep down he wondered if Hermione was right. Certainly, if he ever got past all the boring stuff and actually started doing something useful, he would probably enjoy it immensely.

Hermione was already opening her Arithmancy book, so Harry sighed and sat down, resigned to make a real effort at understanding the material. Perhaps if Hermione was there to go over it in detail (and she would, at great length), he might get something useful out of it. Ginny headed off in a random direction of the library even as she continued to talk to Harry.

_So what am I looking for?_

Harry had no clue. He'd thought that they would figure it out when they got there, but Hermione was making that difficult. _I don't know. Try anything to do with magical bonds._

That seemed to satisfy her for the moment, so Harry turned to Hermione, who was pulling out her extensive notes as another reference material. When asked where his notes were, Harry was able to say truthfully he'd left them in the room. He was glad he could, because he didn't need to feel any more inferior to Hermione than he already did, and comparing notes would certainly do that.

She began to go over the "basic principles" of Arithmancy, but it was hard for Harry to concentrate without wondering how Ginny was doing. He was able to keep most of his attention on the book in front of him, but it seemed whenever he was about to grasp a concept or make a connection, he'd pick up movement in the corner of his vision and his thoughts would return once again to Ginny. After about the first ten minutes, Hermione suddenly looked up and appeared...sympathetic.

"You're really not getting this, are you?"

Harry chastised himself for putting her though this and not really putting his best effort into it. "I just have to work harder than you at it, that's all."

"I wish I knew how to explain it better. It just comes to me, I guess like flying came to you."

Harry shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I'll get it sooner or later. I understand if you have more important things to work on." He glanced around the library, as if to make his point.

Hermione blinked, and then shook her head. "I'm willing to work with you as long as you are, Harry. It might cut a bit into my studies, but I'd love to help you."

Something about her words and her kind, thoughtful tone tweaked a nerve somewhere in Harry. "Not that I'll need help all the time. I can work things out for myself."

She raised an eyebrow. "Of course you can, Harry." She still sounded slightly sympathetic, causing him to wonder if she was just humoring him. "But I really don't mind, as long as I'm not just doing your homework for you."

Harry laughed nervously. He didn't want to admit that having Hermione's help on a regular basis (and not just on a last minute assignment) sounded nice, and he really didn't want to admit being interested in learning. School had never had a great appeal to him, mostly because of his experiences with it pre-Hogwarts, but now that they were getting into more advanced classes, he felt he was either going to have to buckle down or suffer the consequences.

"No, I'll leave that to Ron."

Hermione's smile flickered slightly at the mention of the other member of their trio, but it didn't faze her. "I must admit, I never expected this kind of interest from you, Harry."

As much as he wanted to deny it, she had a very good point. "Yeah, well, don't mention it. Really. Ron'll think I'm a traitor."

Hermione laughed and pointedly changed the subject back to Arithmancy, after which he redoubled his efforts to understand and block out whatever Ginny might be doing. It was one thing to be distracted from a conversation with Ron over Quidditch, but it was something entirely different to be taking Hermione's time away from studying for his own benefit.

Either way, he was able to concentrate on what Hermione was saying, and now that she'd changed tactics and brought in possible connections to curse-breaking, it seemed more interesting and lengthened his attention span to where Hermione thought they were making actual progress, and she said so. Harry didn't quite believe her (it was obvious she was dumbing it down for him), but he accepted her compliments and urged her to continue.

------

After a while, Ginny came over to sit next to Harry and finally broke his concentration. Luckily, Hermione had taken to reading a book that Harry couldn't even read the title ("It's Latin, Harry."), and he was taking the time to do his Transfiguration homework. What caught his attention was the book Ginny had brought over. It was large, black hardback book with the title lettered in gold across the front, and pages that looked well-kept, if yellowed with age. The actual title was _Dark Creatures: Everything You Wish You Didn't Know About Them. _Hermione looked up from her own tome as Ginny sat down and laid the book in front of her.

"What's that for, Ginny?"

The redhead shrugged as if it was unimportant. "Just something to read."

Hermione arched an eyebrow. "So you're going to read about dark creatures."

Ginny sighed. "All right. I was looking up dementors, and they're really hard to find. This was the only book I could find that had anything that seemed worth reading."

"Why are you looking up dementors?" Hermione asked, and Harry partially wondered the same thing. He didn't think dementors would help he and Ginny understand their connection.

"Well, I wanted to know exactly what they are." She squirmed in her seat, and Harry wondered if she was acting or really wanted to know more about them. "And if there's a way to stop them."

That satisfied Hermione. "I don't think they'd publish that sort of information, with them guarding Azkaban and all. Someone might figure out how to break out."

It was Ginny's turn to raise an eyebrow. "I think someone already has."

Hermione looked away, obviously embarrassed. "Oh. Right." She went back to her book, and Harry pretended to go back to his Transfiguration essay. It was slow going, and he knew from this point forward he wouldn't get much of anything done, but it was still a nice feeling to have almost half of it finished and not have to worry about doing it all at the last minute.

_So did you find anything?_

_Not really - I couldn't find anything at all on magical bonds. I've never heard of anything like this before, so I bet if there is anything, it'll be in the Restricted Section. I looked in a bunch of charms books, but the only thing I could find is charming two things to mirror each other's appearance. You know, like write in one book and it appears in another._

_Well, that could be useful, if I couldn't just pop up in your head. _Harry smiled inwardly, and he felt his amusement meet her own inside of him. It was still a little awkward for him to feel something so intimately, and yet know it wasn't his own feelings, but at the moment it was rather nice. It was like being unable to feel hot or cold, and then suddenly being wrapped in a warm blanket.

_I did find a few books that talked about the magical part of brains, but they looked like tough reading and I'm just going to check them out and read them at night. I left them with Madam Pince - I don't think it would be a good idea for Hermione to ask about those._

_Yeah. She's too smart for her own good._

He felt Ginny smile at him, though when he looked over, her expression nearly as absorbed in her book as Hermione's. He supposed it was more of an inward smile.

_You didn't lie to her though. I was surprised._

_Surprised that I didn't lie to my best friend?  
_

_No! _She paused, and Harry felt her slight embarrassment. _I meant that you told her the absolute truth and still didn't let her onto us. I didn't think you had it in you._

He hadn't consciously done that, but now that Ginny mentioned it, he was a little proud of himself. At the time, he'd just figured that the less truth he kept from her, the easier it would be to keep the really important things.

_What makes you think that, Weasley?_

_You might be able to do a lot of things the rest of us can't, but you are a horrible liar._

_And how would you know that?_

Her obvious glee only served to irritate him more, but it was a good-natured irritation, not like the irritated he'd been at breakfast. He hoped she could see that.

_I've known that forever, Harry. Ever since, well, the whole cupboard thing._

She had a point there. After they'd begun talking over the summer, she'd seemed very interested in what life was like for him with muggles. She'd gotten what she wanted, minus a few details, and she hadn't been very happy with what she heard. One day, Harry had made the mistake of slipping and mentioning the cupboard, after which it had taken her a full ten minutes of grilling from her to finally root out the truth that he had lived under the stairs for the first eleven years of his life. She'd been incensed.

_Just because I don't lie doesn't mean I can't. _Indignance started to creep into his voice, and Ginny snorted. How she made that noise silently was beyond him, but perhaps it was so ingrained in her personality that it was natural.

_Sure, Harry. You just tell yourself that._

He didn't say anything after that, and he could feel her attention shift from him to the book in front of her. He was still unable to get any work done on his essay, but mercifully Hermione looked at her watch and saw that it was time for dinner. Harry was a bit surprised he'd been able to work on actual homework that long, but he didn't say anything as Ginny said something about going to meet some friends before heading down to the Great Hall. Harry knew she didn't have any friends that she would want to eat dinner with, but he eventually realized that she was probably just going to take the books back to her room. After Ginny left (no doubt to double back to the library), Harry and Hermione headed down to the Great Hall to see if Ron was already at dinner.

------

The Great Hall was buzzing with the dinner rush by the time Harry and Hermione arrived, but Ron wasn't anywhere to be found. The only flaming red hair that could be spotted was that of the twins - apparently Percy was absent as well. Though he still thought Ron was being a bit stupid about the whole thing, Harry did begin to worry about him and wonder if he and Hermione should go talk to him. It wasn't like Ron to miss a chance to eat, especially when he was upset over something. Harry often wondered how much of Ron's famed appetite was due to his bottomless stomach, or if he was using it as a way of dealing with his emotions, but he kept such thoughts to himself. He was probably just imagining things.

After standing at the head of Gryffindor table long enough to attract a little attention, Harry moved off down the row toward the twins. Hermione glanced at the doors to the Hall once more, and then reluctantly followed him and the pair squashed in between Parvati Patil and a first year neither of them knew, and across from Fred and George.

"Either of you seen Ron?"

The twins looked at each other, then shook their heads in unison as George replied. "Not since lunch. Why?"

Harry shook his head. "No reason."

George opened his mouth to protest, but closed it as Fred pointed toward the doors. "There he his now." Sure enough, Ron's tall, lanky figure was making its way over to the Gryffindor table, looking as normal as ever. He squeezed in next to George, mumbled a hello, and went straight to the food. By the time he'd gotten the fork to his mouth, it was quite obvious that he was trying to avoid speaking and eat as fast as possibile.

"Dear brother, what has your knickers in a twist this lovely evening?" Fred, of course.

Ron mumbled something non-committal, and continued to butter his bread. George threw a questioning glance at Harry and Hermione.

"Ron, I'm sorry if I upset you," Hermione said, though Harry knew that wouldn't solve anything.

"I'm not upset."

It was clearly a lie, and everyone knew it. Well, maybe he wasn't upset, but something was definitely bothering him. Even the twins seemed to be dragged down a little by his mood, though they resumed their comedian act with a group of first and second years sitting to their right. The tension in the air was so thick Harry thought he might be swimming in it, and for the first time, he really worried about Ron. Surely going down to the library with Hermione hadn't been _that_ bad of a thing to do?

_Are you all right?_

Harry blinked and shook his head. Ginny was still able to surprise him sometimes, especially if he was preoccupied by something.

_Yeah._

_You're really worried about something._

It was a statement more than a question, though Harry could tell she wanted to know why. He didn't even bother trying to deny it - it seemed pointless with how things were. He hoped they would be able to find something, anything to help keep their connection in check.

_It's just Ron. I don't know why he's so bothered by me going down to the library with you and Hermione._

Ginny didn't reply for a moment. _I don't know either. I wish he'd grow up._

Harry sighed inwardly, vaguely aware that she could sense that, too. _I guess I just won't be able to study without him anymore._

_Don't let Ron influence who you are Harry._

_I'm not going to lose my best friend over something stupid like this._

_I'm coming down there._

Harry almost told her not to, but he realized there really wasn't anything he could do to stop her. And besides that, she needed to eat eventually. His eyes turned up to study Ron again, who was both eating and carrying on a dull, lifeless conversation with George. He risked a glance at Hermione, who looked as troubled as he felt.

It was a very long two minutes until Ginny appeared, and as if she knew exactly how to make Harry the most uncomfortable, she squeezed between him and Parvati and very nearly laid her head on his shoulder as she leaned into him. Ron looked up and scowled deeply, but he didn't say anything before he stabbed a fork into his food.

"You all right Ron?"

If Harry hadn't felt Ginny's determination, he probably would have stared at her in shock, but as it was, he knew beyond any doubt that she was going to do exactly what she wanted no matter what anyone said.

"I already said I was."

Ginny blinked slowly and pointedly. "You don't look all right."

"How would you know?"

Harry didn't miss the look that Fred and George shared as George looked around for a quick getaway path.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because you look like you're about to hex the next person that asks you if you're all right? Really Ron, you're a terrible liar." Harry wondered if Ginny was provoking him on purpose, then decided that was a stupid question. Of course she was.

"What's it to you?"

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Because you're being a git and it's annoying me."

"You haven't even been here five minutes."

By this time, both Fred and George were looking around them as if something was about to explode, and Hermione's eyes were bouncing between Ron and Ginny like they were playing an insane ping-pong match. Harry's gaze never left Ron - he didn't need to look at Ginny to feel her stubbornness grow along with her annoyance.

"Oh, and what was that about pouting because Hermione, Harry, and I wanted to go to the library? Because that was so mature of you."

Ron made a frustrated noise and glared daggers back at his sister, but he seemed to be at a loss for what to say. His ears were a furious red by now, and it looked as though steam was ready to come out of his ears.

"I guess I can see where I'm not wanted." He pushed his plate away and made his way quickly toward the door, and at first, no one made a move to stop him. Finally, just be for he disappeared from Harry's vision, Hermione jumped up.

"Ron! Wait!"

She dashed off after him after throwing an angry look at Ginny. Harry felt a massive wave of satisfaction from her, but he couldn't understand it. Why would she be happy that she hacked off her brother? And for that matter, why did she have to drag him into it? He was doing everything he could think of to keep Ron from being hurt that he'd chosen Hermione over him, and it Ginny all of two minutes to destroy whatever hope he had of saving the situation.

Ginny, however, looked unaffected as she piled food onto her plate. More than a few Gryffindors stared at her in disbelief, but she paid them no mind and dove into her meal. Harry wondered if she really had no reaction, or if she was just very good at hiding it - and she would have to be a master to keep it from him.

"Why did you do that?" Harry asked quietly. At first, it looked as though she was going to ignore him, but finally she turned her head and looked up at him.

"He needed a good kick in the arse, that's why."

Harry shook his head. Maybe Ginny understood Ron better than he did - he was her brother, after all - but it still baffled him as to how making Ron angry would make things better. As if to prove his point, he could hear Ron's voice from out in the Entrance Hall, obviously yelling quite loudly, but he couldn't make out the words. He imagined that both his and Ginny's names would be thrown around a lot, as well as his choosing to do homework and something about how a certain someone was hanging all over him. He didn't envy Hermione at that particular moment - her ears had to be ringing.

Slowly, quiet conversations started back up at the Gryffindor table again and the next ten minutes were relatively normal. Harry and Ginny finished their dinner in silence while Harry contemplated the situation with Ron, and what he could do to fix it. He'd have to ask Hermione - girls were always better at this than he was.

He'd just been ready to ask Ginny if she wanted to go back up to the common room and give him one of the books she'd checked out when Hermione reappeared in the Great Hall, half-dragging Ron behind her and nearly forcing him into his seat at the table. Neither of them looked happy, but Ron looked downright miserable. It was a marked contrast to his fury of just a few minutes ago, which made quite a few people wonder what exactly Hermione had said. There weren't too many people in the world who could tame the Weasley temper.

"Ginny, I think you owe your brother an apology."

The redhead's eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed past their normal size. "If you think I'm apologizing for him being a selfish git, then think again."

"No, you're apologizing for an unprovoked attack on him."

Harry's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. Hermione sounded like she was in homework lecture mode, but worse. Even Ginny flinched slightly from the don't-cross-me voice that surprised all of them, and Harry could feel her satisfaction edge into doubt. He gave her a look he hoped agreed with Hermione, and was rewarded with a sigh.

"I'm sorry Ron."

Ron grunted, but apparently Hermione was satisfied with Ginny's response because her gaze softened and she looked over at Ron. "Now Ron, I speak for all three of us when I say that you're definitely wanted. I don't know how something this small got blown up like this, but we invited you to come with us to the library. It wasn't like we didn't want you there."

To the other Gryffindors' credit, they at least tried to look uninterested, but it was pretty obvious that they were listening very carefully. Harry wished they could take this somewhere more private (the last thing he needed was more publicity), but given the frailty of the situation, he didn't think it would be a good time to suggest it.

Ron's eyes never left the floor. "I know."

Hermione nodded, satisfied. "Then let's put that behind us, shall we?" She didn't even wait for a response before pointedly returning to her meal, which no one had touched since she left. Ron didn't even so much as look at his food, and it was a great relief to Harry when the four finally rose and filed out of the Great Hall. There was still a very thick tension in the air, but it wasn't threatening to explode at any moment as it had earlier. Ginny had seen to that.

None of them said a word on the way up to the Gryffindor Tower, but Harry was too lost in thought to notice if anyone had. He decided that he needed to talk to Ron, and fast, before this got out of hand again. Hermione gave the Fat Lady the password, and as they climbed through the portrait hole, Harry tapped Ron on the shoulder and jerked his head toward the far corner of the common room. Ginny looked for a moment like she was going to follow, but all it took was a sharp look from Harry to convince her otherwise. He and Ron took seats at a small table and looked at each other.

"Ron, I just want you to know that I didn't want to leave you out. You should have come with us, even if you didn't want to work - you could have drawn up Quidditch plays or something."

The redhead looked down at the table, his red hair filling Harry's view and somehow causing a chill to form at the top of his spine and run right down to his toes.

"Hermione's right, Harry, it's not that. She said it best - I just don't want to be the guy who is tagging along."

Harry shifted uncomfortably. He had no idea what he was doing, or even why he pulled Ron over here in the first place. He should have just waited until morning when everything was all right and both of them had forgotten about the whole thing.

"Ron, you're my best mate. Just because some things might have changed doesn't mean that I don't want you around anymore."

Ron looked up and the two shared a forced smile. "So what have you done with Harry?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. I don't feel like myself lately, really. I...I don't know what's happening, and I can't even describe it. I just don't think the same." That was about as close as Harry would ever get to voluntarily telling Ron about his and Ginny's bond. It was true, what he'd said. Ever since Ginny had come into his life, he'd felt different, anchored somehow. Instead of just floating and doing all the things he was supposed to, Ginny's enthusiasm toward life in general had caught on to him. Harry didn't quite know how to describe it, even to himself, but it just seemed like he wanted more than he ever had.

"Is it Ginny?"

However he meant it, Ron had no idea how close to the mark he was. "I don't know. I feel sorry for her, after what happened last year, and she's a good friend."

Ron seemed to accept that. "You're...you're not together?"

Harry smiled grimly. "She's trying. Even if I did feel like that toward her, which I don't, there are a lot of reasons why I would never be her boyfriend. For one, people are always trying to kill me."

"Good. Because she's six years too young to be thinking about going out with guys." Ron laughed, though it was a harsh, grating sound. "Bugger it all. Everything was so simple without her."

Harry blinked twice. How right Ron was - before Ginny had come into his life, it was simple. Come here, go there, do what you're told. Now...now Harry didn't know what to make of it. He'd already had his first big shock (revising with Hermione without being prodded and poked), and there were sure to be more to come. For better or worse, Ginny had changed him forever.

"So should we hex each other to make it look good?" He had a grin on his face that made Harry cheer internally. He felt Ginny react to his feelings, though she kept a respectful distance.

"Why? So Hermione and Ginny can't accuse us of having a man talk?"

Ron snorted in laughter. "A man talk? Is that what this was? I don't think I've had one before."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Let's not make it a habit, all right? We can't be getting soft already."

"Deal." The boys clasped hands over the table and helped each other up out of the chairs, and Harry was amused to note that Hermione had an extremely relieved expression on her face. Did she really think that Ron and Harry would resort to wands? Old fashioned fist fights worked just as well, even if Ron had a few inches on him.

"So...so you've worked things out?" Hermione asked anxiously.

Harry shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Nothing to work out, really." Ron's attitude didn't suggest anything different, so Hermione threw up her arms, grumbled something that sounded like _boys_, and stalked off toward the girls' dormitory. Harry and Ron shared an all too familiar look, but then Harry turned to Ginny.

"Care to explain?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment, but shook her head. "Nope."

Ron groaned, but he slid past Ginny all the same and headed up the boys' staircase as well. It was so perfectly worked out that if he hadn't known better, he would have accused Ginny of planning it.

"I found something that might help us."

That brought Harry down to earth as fast as you could say Albus Dumbledore. "What?"

Ginny smiled warmly and took his hand, and for once Harry forgot to take it away from her. She led him over to her bag, which was tucked in a quiet corner away from the crowd and hidden in a shadow. She pulled it open and put a small, white, leather-bound book in his hand, so that the book itself was no thicker than two fingers on top of each other, and was roughly one and a half times the size of his palm. At first, Harry thought there was no title, but then when he peered closer, he could barely make out slightly off-white letters that spelled _Occlumency._

"What is it?"

"It's a book on how to shield your mind from Legilimency. The subject was mentioned in one of the books I was reading, but I couldn't find it anywhere in the library until I asked Madam Pince."

Instantly, Harry was put on his guard. "You did what?"

"Calm down, don't worry about it." She squeezed his hand that he hadn't realized she'd still been holding. "I said I heard about it from Dad, and after last year, I wanted to know how I could stop someone from entering my mind."

Harry thought that was a plausible excuse, but he still didn't like the idea of the cranky old librarian knowing anything about them. He guessed that she was the best person to ask if he couldn't ask Hermione, but he supposed he would leave all the asking to Ginny, since she seemed to be able to get a better response than he.

"So where did it come from?"

At this, Ginny tinged a light pink. "The Restricted Section."

Harry sucked in a breath, and nearly dropped the book from his hand. Getting something out of the library was one thing; anything they could get their hands on couldn't be too dangerous. But getting something out of the Restricted Section?

"I can take it back if you don't want it," Ginny said quickly, already putting her slender fingers on it.

Harry shook his head. "No, no. Don't." He pulled the book back from her. "Anything that might help we have to use."

Ginny studied him for a moment, looking like she was both looking him over and reaching inside herself to find his place there. "You really hate this, don't you?"

Harry blanched. "Hate what?"

"This...our connection. It bothers you."

He sighed, his shoulders falling and his back arching in a slump that wasn't characteristic of his normal posture. "Ginny...I don't know what to say. At times, I love it and I couldn't be happier, but others, it's like I can't take any more of you. Don't get me wrong - you're a great friend - but I feel like you're getting pushed into me. I was it was hard to concentrate in class because I kept feeling you inside of me and I'm still not used to it."

"Harry, I feel that way too." She dropped his hand, glancing down at it as if losing something she wanted. "You're not the only one who this is different for. I've never been this close to anyone and I don't know if I like it. It's not that I wouldn't share all these things with you, I think I would, it's just not having a choice that I don't like."

Harry had to take a moment to digest all that she'd said, and even when he did, he still wasn't sure he'd gotten it all. Sometimes she surprised him with her emotional maturity, like she'd been forced to age about ten years after the incident with the diary. It still scared him how much of her innocence had been taken from her so easily.

"I..." The truth was, Harry hadn't a clue what to say. "I just thought you liked it. I mean..er..."

Ginny shook her head. "It's just hard for me. I do like it, and it would be even harder for me to go back, but I hate not being able to separate ourselves."

Harry nodded, though this time he didn't reply. His eyes picked out the title of the book once more, which was still well-hidden even though he knew what to look for. "So what's Occlumency again?"

"It helps keep Legilimens out of your head, if I read it right. Legilimency is like mind-reading, and Occlumency is how to stop it."

Harry did smile at that - Ginny was right, this _could_ help them.

"I didn't get very far, but it doesn't look easy to learn. We'll probably have to work on it a lot."

He nodded in agreement, and though he'd just admitted to Ginny that he did like having her around a lot of the time, no price was too large for the ability to keep themselves separate. He had no idea how much farther the bond might grow, and he wanted to be prepared for the worst.

Ginny grabbed her bag and dragged it over to a table, where she pulled out another book entitled _Magic of the Mind_ by an author Harry didn't care to try pronouncing. He flipped open the Occlumency book and was surprised by its length despite its size - if he wasn't careful, he would tear the pages just by trying to turn them they were so thin. Out of curiosity, he flipped to the table of contents and glanced over the chapter titles. Judging from there, it seemed like he would be doing a lot of meditating and attempting to control his emotions; there was a whole chapter on breathing exercises. But one title caught his attention - special Occlumens. He carefully flipped to that section and began skimming, suddenly stopping and staring at the very last note before the next chapter.

_**Innate Occlumens**_

_The thought that some witches and wizards have the natural ability to resist Legilimency has been around for the greater part of the last two millennia. Documentation of such a discovery is sketchy at best, but it is thought that the innate Occlumens is reluctant to share his or her talent given their instinct to keep their mind their own, and therefore in the rare instance that an individual possesses this talent, he or she may never share it. From what sources can be described as trustworthy, it is a generally held belief that the natural Occlumens is able to visualize their thoughts, feelings, and memories, as well as arrange them at will, making it very difficult for even an accomplished Legilimens to find anything at all. While normal methods of Occlumency involve pushing a thought or memory at the Legilimens to buy time to push their invasion back, the innate Occlumens is rumored to be able to hide completely from the invasion and simply not exist from the viewpoint of the Legilimens. However, this cannot be confirmed as there are no known innate Occlumens at the time this book is published._

_It is also thought that a mind-to-mind connection between two individuals can also produce innate Occlumens due to the necessities of such a connection, however, a true mind bond is considered to be a myth and nothing more. Attempts by persons such as Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel over their centuries of marriage to cultivate such a bond have turned up quite empty._

"Ginny! Look at this!"

She glanced up from reading, looking as excited as he felt. "What did you find?"

He handed her the book, and she took the time to read it as her excitement grew. "Harry! This is great!"

He nodded, though his brow creased in thought. If they were both innate Occlumens, that could mean a great number of things, including being able to block each other with relative ease. Unfortunately, he hadn't seen any information on how to accomplish this, and given the short paragraph with no information at all, he doubted that they would be able to find anything anywhere else.

He let his gaze rest on Ginny as he faded out of the real world and returned to the dormitory that was becoming familiar in his mind. Strangely, it seemed brighter than normal, and the presence of the dementor was completely gone. For that, Harry was glad. He searched the room, finding Ginny's little red ball almost immediately, though he almost laughed when he did. It was pulsing a bright red, nearly bouncing in mid air and exuding excitement and happiness. Of course now that he'd found it, he had no idea what to do with it. His gaze drifted over to his school trunk, and an idea came to him. He reached out and gently closed his hand around the ball, taking care not to squeeze it too hard before he opened his trunk and set it inside.

He closed the trunk tight and left his mind, feeling satisfied right up until the moment Ginny shook her head.

"Whatever you did, I still know you're feeling really pleased with yourself right now." Harry's mood dropped like a rock, causing Ginny to smile even more. "Don't worry about it, I didn't expect it to be that easy. What did you do?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably. After his dream the night before, he wasn't comfortable at all talking to Ginny about his new ability to visualize his thoughts (as the book put it). It reminded him and probably her of just how cold and unreachable her own mind was.

"I took your ball and put it in my trunk. I was hoping if I put it away, it might..."

He didn't finish, as Ginny burst out laughing and had to push her chair away from the table as to prevent injury. He waited patiently until she recovered, a little hurt.

"I'm sorry Harry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," she said, though she still had a huge smile on her face. "But you put it inside a trunk? I've been halfway across the world, and you thought putting it inside of a trunk would help?"

"Er...well...I guess." It was a pretty stupid idea now that she pointed it out, and Harry could see it being laughable, but it still was an idea. He didn't know what else to try. Ginny must have sensed his feelings, because her smile slowly faded.

"I really am sorry Harry."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

She peered at him for a moment, then looked down at her book as if wanting somewhere to look besides at him. "I guess it's better than what I can do. I can't even find you." She looked up. "Don't do that."

Harry was bewildered. "Do what?"

"Feel sorry for me. It's not worth it."

"I'm always going to feel like that. I want to help you, whether you want help or not."

"Harry, please don't do this. I don't want to have to worry about you trying to help me when we're trying to work out this whole connection thing. You need to worry about getting me out of your head."

"What if I want you there?"

"You just said you felt like you're getting pushed into me."

"I never said it was a bad thing."

Harry and Ginny locked gazes in what promised to be the first of many battles between them. It wasn't just a glaring match - Ginny was the first to try and overwhelm him with stubbornness through their bond, but Harry quickly matched it and pushed her attack back on her. They were dead still in their glares for a long two minutes before Ginny broke, looking away and allowing Harry's desire to help her wash through her system. Harry noticed her shiver violently and immediately he withdrew.

"I...I didn't mean to hurt you."

She shook her head slowly, and that same broken feeling he'd felt the night before returned to her. "No, Harry. It's not that. It's just really, really weird to feel how much you care about me. It's like I both want to fight it and let it in. I can't figure out what I want."

Harry couldn't think of anything to say that would comfort her, but he didn't have to. She looked up, forced a smile, and reached over to grasp his hand.

"Either way, thank you. It's nice to know someone cares about me."

He looked down, not sure how to accept her gratitude, but she seemed to feel that too. Her hand squeezed his and withdrew, causing a slight relief flow through him.

"You really don't like that, do you?"

Harry shifted in his seat. "Like what?'"

"Being touched."

Harry sighed. He knew this conversation was coming eventually, but he didn't want to have it now, when she was already feeling depressed and broken. "I'm just not used to it."

Ginny shook her head. "It makes you very uncomfortable. I can feel it."

He couldn't do anything but shrug and know she was right. "I don't know why, I just don't like it when people touch me like that."

Remarkably, she didn't seem to find that confusing at all. She inched her hand over on the table so it rested not a centimeter from his and made an effort to find his eyes. "I think you're just hurt in a different way than I am."

His eyes made a feeble effort to look down, but her hand came up to his cheek and pointedly pulled his face back away from the floor. It was Harry's turn to shiver, quite violently, but he didn't move to stop her. She did seem surprised that he didn't push her away, but she recovered quickly.

"You've never had anyone around to show you that touch isn't a bad thing."

Miserable pain washed through their bond, causing both of them to shrink away from each other and Ginny to pull her hand back. Harry's eyes did meet the floor this time, and his voice was barely audible.

"I'm sorry Ginny. I'm sorry I can't be the kind of friend you need."

"How would you know what kind of friend I need?"

He looked up at her with sad acceptance. "You need someone who can comfort you in a way I'll never be able to. I know how much you think touching me will help, but it really doesn't. I think it helps you more than anything, and I...I can't do that."

Silence followed Harry's conclusion, but true to form, Harry didn't feel as though Ginny was backing down. If anything, it seemed like she was planning, figuring out what to say to pin him into a corner, which she was very good at in Harry's experience. After another long moment, she spoke again.

"You're not going to leave me, Harry. You're not."

He opened his mouth to tell her that it wouldn't be best to get too close, for them to continue down the path she obviously wanted and would only frustrate and confuse her, but the pain and suffering that washed over him was enough to shut it again. There was something bigger at work here, something that was more than his aversion to physical contact. He just couldn't grasp what it was. Try as he might, he couldn't think of any reason that Ginny would want to force him to stay her friend if he didn't want to. Whatever it was, Harry could almost grasp it but it seemed to be locked in the back of his head for eternity.

"I'm not leaving you."

It was the only thing he could think to say, but the extreme relief that flowed from her unlocked that thought and Harry remembered something she'd said two nights before. She'd said that she would never be able to trust anyone again, and Harry had almost sealed that statement. It seemed, for whatever reason, Ginny had at least cracked her tight shell to let him in, and she probably wouldn't survive him leaving again.

Another silence passed between them, in which Harry thumbed at the cover of the Occlumency book, and Ginny folded her hands in her lap and pressed her fingers together. After a while, Harry noticed that the common room was quite empty, and he glanced at his watch.

"Are you all right?"

She nodded.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Then I think I'm going to go to bed."

She looked up, a little surprised, but that subsided when she took a look around the common room. "I guess it's getting late, isn't it?"

Harry nodded. "Well, good night Ginny." He started toward the boys' staircase, but Ginny's voice came from behind him once again.

"Harry?"

By the time he turned, she had already crossed the distance between them. "Can...can I have a hug?" Her voice cracked and it looked as though she was about to burst into tears again. Harry was strongly reminded of the night before the train ride.

It was really no contest in his mind, only a short impulse to say no followed by an overwhelming yes. Not for himself, mind you, but because of the look on her face, the weakness in her voice, and the sad, broken feelings coming after him through their bond. He stretched out and wrapped her in an embrace the best he knew how, and he felt her arms wrap around his waist tightly. He'd expected the hug to be just that - a brief hug goodnight - but Ginny's face was already in his chest and he couldn't see a way of extracting himself. So he did just the opposite and curled his arms around her tighter, holding her to him and deciding that she had bigger problems than a fear of contact, and he could deal with it if it meant comforting her. And besides, once she was coiled around him, his misgivings slowly tamed as her body became more familiar to his hold. After a long few minutes, Ginny finally relaxed her hold and pulled away, and Harry was surprised to see that her eyes looked red and her face was tear-stained.

"Thank you, Harry. That means more to me than you'll ever know."

"I...You're welcome."

In spite of everything, she let out a short laugh and looked up at him. "Good night."

"Good night."

With that, Harry turned toward the boys' staircase and headed up, though he could feel Ginny's eyes on him as he did. He looked down at his robes and hoped her tears wouldn't be visible to Ron when he came into the room, but such fears were squashed when he heard the redhead's snoring coming softly from his bed. He took a moment to try to wrap his mind around all that had happened that day and night, but after a short moment he gave up and changed into his nightclothes in silence. He was asleep almost as soon as he hit the bed, only sparing time to place the Occlumency book under his Invisibility Cloak in his trunk.

------

Hermione Granger was a very bright young girl. So bright, in fact, that many of her professors and instructors were amazed at her ability to pick up new concepts and figure things out for herself without any help at all. So used to this method of operation, the young witch did not take well to a problem that left her baffled with no clues on how to solve it.

One such problem was Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley. The pair was hiding something big - that much was clear - and Hermione wanted to know exactly what it was. She wanted to know very badly what two previous near-strangers suddenly had to keep from the rest of the world, and how the two had grown so close in such a short amount of time. She had not forgotten about the wand that Harry bought for the redhead, or the way they spoke and acted around each other. It was as if they'd known each other forever, and they could anticipate the other's actions before even moving. She was sure that Harry and Ginny themselves had not noticed this yet - there would be no reason for them to - but nothing escaped the watchful eyes of Hermione Granger, including the pair's shadowed conversation in the corner of the common room.

Ginny had given him a book, no doubt checked out from the library while the three were there before dinner. The book itself was hard to miss - it was a pure white cover, and even though it was small, it stood out like a sore thumb against the shadows. Hermione had never seen that book before, which bothered her. She'd seen a great many books out of the Hogwarts library, and yet none of them had looked anything similar to that particular one. Certainly, she would have remembered if one had.

In her conversation with Ron in the Entrance Hall, she'd convinced the redhead to leave Harry and Ginny alone so that they could have a little time to themselves. She told him what Harry had said to her in the library, and while he didn't seem too pleased with her observations, he agreed that actually asking the pair about it wasn't a good idea, so he'd been convinced to leave them alone and allow Hermione to watch them from a distance. It was very enlightening to watch the pair interact when they thought no one was watching - it was obvious (to Hermione, anyway) that they were very close to each other in a way that she or Ron could never hope to achieve.

When Ginny's hand reached for Harry's face, Hermione nearly walked out from her hiding place on the girls' stairwell to catch them red-handed, but something held her back. It was something about Harry's reaction - even from afar, she could tell he shivered and didn't take to her touch at all. She filed that away in her head, and finally decided to believe that there was nothing going on between the two. Well, nothing like what Ron believed. There was something going on between them, and it was much more than romance. Briefly, Hermione wondered if Harry had left something out about his Chamber of Secrets experience. Even Ron hadn't been there the whole way, and who knew what had happened between Harry and Ginny after Harry defeated the basilisk and destroyed the diary.

She watched as Harry got up and headed toward the staircase, and her brow creased in confusion as the two embraced for what seemed like forever. That was certainly not a casual friendly embrace, and given Harry's reaction to Ginny's earlier touch, it had to be killing Harry to have such an intimate contact. Ginny watched Harry go up the boys' staircase, standing stock still for the longest time before she turned to head up to her own dormitory. Hermione stepped out and immediately noted the redness around the young redhead's eyes and the dampness of her cheeks. Something was very wrong with Ginny, and judging by the gasp of surprise, she had no idea that Hermione had observed her entire conversation with Harry.

"What are you doing up so late?" Hermione asked innocently, playing off her prefect act.

It took Ginny a moment to recover from her shock, but it didn't take her eyes long to narrow. "None of your business."

"Did Harry upset you?" She knew this wasn't the case, but it was a good question to ask in case Ginny let something slip.

"No, and what's it to you?"

This was going nowhere fast. "You've been crying."

"And? That doesn't make it any of your business." Ginny walked forcefully through Hermione, pushing her out of the way. "Stop putting your nose where it doesn't belong."

Hermione watched her go, stunned. Whatever she had told Harry, she obviously wasn't going to share it with anyone else. Her only hope was to somehow figure it out on her own, or squeeze it out of Harry. Yes, that's what she would do. Harry would eventually make a mistake, and she could confront him about it when Ginny wasn't around to say anything about it.

------

**_A/N:_** _Huzzah for all my reviewers! I'm pleasantly surprised by all of the response that I've been getting for this story, and I hope you all continue to comment and enjoy my work as much as you have for the beginning. Remember, it's not too late to start reviewing! xD_

_Oh, and something to consider. How did Ginny get her hands on Occlumency so easily? Madam Pince doesn't seem like she'd hand out Restricted books out of the kindness of her heart..._


	5. Legilimency

**5: Legilimency**

The next few days passed quite normally for everyone at Hogwarts, and Ron seemed to be more and more accepting of Ginny into their little clique. Not that the Hogwarts rumor mill didn't catch on; quite the contrary. It seemed that Harry caught people throwing Ginny strange glances and overheard whispers with his and her names before people knew he was in the room. He followed Ginny's advice on the matter - don't worry about it and ignore it. By next week they would be talking about something completely different and if anyone asked, it had always been a quartet, and not a trio.

Mainly, Harry was worried about his Ancient Runes class the coming Friday. Hermione hadn't said much about it, but if it was half as difficult as Arithmancy, he would be in the library all hours of the day an night just to keep up. He didn't know how Hermione handled so many classes, and in fact, it didn't look like she was handling them well. Even by Thursday in the morning's session of double Potions, she looked about ready to drop her head in her cauldron and fall asleep. After what had happened in the library and the encounter Ginny had told him about after their conversation that Monday night, he'd expected Hermione to be all over him trying to figure out what was going on. But instead, Harry was worried about the bushy-haired witch. The week wasn't even over yet and she looked exhausted, and every time he saw her, she was studying or doing something related to her classes. He'd asked if she was all right, once, but she'd only gotten irritated and told him gruffly that she was fine and he needn't worry about it.

In any case, he'd backed off of his and Ginny's relationship and tried to include Ron and Hermione more. He'd have liked to say that this was because he cared for the other two as much as he did Ginny and that they were equally best friends, but he really just didn't want to throw unnecessary attention on Ginny. He'd already heard a couple rumors about his and Ginny's relationship that made him uneasy, mostly because if Ginny caught wind of them, she might get ideas that Harry didn't want to encourage.

Thursday morning found Harry in the middle of a double Potions class, and Snape was as foul as ever - there even seemed to be something extra contributing to his temper this morning. He hadn't looked at Harry yet, but he still had that intense look of loathing on his face that was reserved for him, and apparently Professor Lupin. Harry hadn't a clue why he would hate Lupin with such a passion, but for the moment he was glad that Snape had somewhere else to put his anger for a while.

In fact, Snape seemed completely distracted from Harry for the class period, and generally everything else. He forgot to be especially nasty to Neville, who looked a little confused as to his good fortune. Even when Malfoy swaggered in, Snape only paid enough attention to Harry to make him prepare the blonde Slytherin's ingredients for him. It wasn't until near the end of the class that Snape returned to his usual foul self.

"Thinking of going after Black yourself, Potter?" Malfoy whispered, prodding Harry in the side with his "injured" arm.

Harry had nearly turned to retort when he caught a passing look from Snape that disturbed him greatly. Before this year, he'd never noticed that...that piercing quality to his cold, black eyes - they'd always looked like empty tunnels of darkness. Suddenly, Harry lost his vision and the world around him disappeared. He was back inside of his own mind, looking around frantically for a disturbance; he didn't know how, but he knew he wasn't alone. Suddenly, an all too familiar black robed figure stormed through the door of the dormitory and gazed around at the room, as if searching for something, though he didn't seem to take notice of Harry staring in shock next to the bed.

Snape's eyes locked onto something and he stepped quickly into Harry's mind, sending vicious chills down the young wizard's spine. By the time Harry leapt into action, Snape was already reaching for an item that Harry immediately recognized as his small, almost non-existent knowledge of Professor Lupin. He didn't know exactly what was happening, but having Snape inside his head seemed like a very bad idea, and it seemed as if the Potions Master knew exactly what he wanted. Using his own skills, Harry pulled the small blue flame that represented Lupin out of Snape's reach and held it in his hand, as if protecting it. Snape's face contorted into confusion, then cast about looking once more. His long, sickly pale hand reached out for something else, something very familiar and very close to Harry. The little red ball jumped violently away from Snape's fingertips and into Harry's other hand as sweat formed on the raven-haired boy's eyebrow. This seemed to confuse the invader even more, and his face began to contort with anger as black tinged on the edges of Harry's vision.

It took Harry a moment to realize what exactly Snape had reached for - it was instinct at this point to keep everything away from him - but when Harry felt the warm, comforting presence of Ginny Weasley in his hand, it struck an anger streak inside of him. Suddenly, Harry's veins felt white-hot and his skin began to shine with a glistening layer of sweat. A silvery-red wave erupted from his body, engulfing Snape and destroying his presence. Harry only had time to register what had happened before the anger left him and he collapsed to the floor of his mind.

------

Several floors away, Ginny Weasley gasped and nearly fell out of her chair. As it was, she had to lay her head down on her desk and breathe deeply to keep her consciousness alive. It was a moment before anyone noticed what happened, as she was supposed to be practicing switching spells, but finally Professor McGonagall's sharp voice cut through the general noise of the classroom.

"Miss Weasley? Are you all right?"

Ginny heard the voice somewhere in the back of her head, but she didn't care. Harry was supposed to be in the middle of Potions, but he was very angry about something, and more than a little scared. She could only imagine what Snape had done, and Harry's fear wasn't alone in flowing through their connection. She felt him wrap around her (how she felt this was beyond her), and she tried to offer him comfort, but he wasn't paying attention. Suddenly, a white-hot wave of anger flushed through their bond, and Harry's presence winked out.

"Miss Weasley!"

McGonagall's hand shook her shoulder gently, causing Ginny to snap up. From the muted gasps of her fellow classmates, she could only guess at her appearance and how ghastly she looked. For a brief second, she considered telling McGonagall something had happened to Harry, and that they needed to get down to the dungeons as fast as possible, but she rid herself of that thought. What she and Harry had was special, sacred even, and she wouldn't betray a secret like that even under torture. That's what this felt like, having Harry unconscious - torture.

"Professor, I...I'm not feeling well." That was the understatement of the year, and her voice was shaky enough to back up her claims. "Can I go up to the Hospital Wing?" She put on her best innocent voice, hoping she could get away to see Harry, but judging from the gaze she received, McGonagall was having none of it, her appearance notwithstanding.

"Perhaps Miss Ward could escort you, should you fall ill again?"

Ginny nodded weakly, suddenly decidng that wasn't such a bad idea. She felt as though she was ready to pass out right then and there. The only thing keeping her up was her need to find Harry and figure out what happened to him.

"That'd be great, Professor."

The girl in question rose from her seat, and after a nervous look around, walked with Ginny to the door and exited the classroom. The two walked down a hallway, turned, and walked up a staircase before Ginny realized she didn't have a lot of time to get rid of her escort. But as soon as she opened her mouth, a wave of nausea passed over her and forced it shut again, lest she throw up all over the castle floor. She hoped that wherever Harry was, he'd been around a lot of people and Snape would be forced to take him to the Hospital Wing.

When she arrived, Ginny saw immediately this was the case. Neither Snape nor the rest of the Potions class could be found, but Hermione and Ron were hovering over one of the beds, and Harry's unruly black hair jumped into her vision. It was all she could do not to rush over to him; instead, she allowed herself to be led over to an empty bed, where Madam Pomfrey immediately took over and shooed Miss Ward back to class. Somewhere, Ginny registered the slight tingling sensations of the diagnostic charms running over her body, but her mind was elsewhere. For the first time, Ginny dove into the vision of her mind as she felt her body pass into unconsciousness.

------

It was even colder and darker than she remembered. Of course, she'd only seen it three times - once when Harry had returned her mental calling, once on the Hogwarts express, and once in a dream, not a week ago. Their first dream didn't count - it felt similar, but now that she looked around, there was a definite difference. It felt more alive - the walls and floor of the Chamber were slimy and mold covered, and the statue of Salazar Slytherin towered over her like a predator over its prey. All the things that Harry had told her about his own experiences returned to mind, but she couldn't see anything besides the actual Chamber, and she could hear nothing but the slow drip of water against stone. Thankfully, the basilisk hadn't made an appearance yet, but Ginny knew it was only a matter of time.

Wait, there was something. It was resting on Slytherin's foot, looking black and square-ish, with a worn cover in such a way that Ginny had no problems recognizing it. Fear struck through her, and she stepped back, and for the first time, she heard a slithering sound. It was amplified both by the hollow chamber and by the sheer size of the serpent Ginny knew it belonged to. Her first thought was to leave, to push it all away, to return to the real world, but then she thought of Harry and how she had to find his place in her mind. She remembered what he'd said about her place is his head - there had to be one that was his in her own. But as the slithering grew louder, Ginny saw no floating balls or thoughts of any kind.

_What am I supposed to do, Harry?_

She called out to him, even though she knew it was pointless. She could feel that he was still unconscious, and it wasn't like he was asleep. He felt weak to her, like he was hanging on to something, which only stiffened her resolve to find him.

Suddenly, the basilisk appeared, and Ginny ran. She ran to the opposite side of the Chamber, turning her eyes down and away to avoid its deadly gaze and hiding behind a stone pillar. The giant snake followed, its massive tail lashing as it tracked its human prey, giving no sign of slowing. Ginny cast about for a weapon, anything, but all she could find were small rocks that would probably anger the snake more than hurt it. For once, she didn't even have her wand, even though it was in her robe pocket the whole way from Transfiguration.

Out of options, Ginny did the only thing she could. She ran again. She ran, and she ran faster. Somehow, she always seemed to be able stay one step ahead of the snake, to avoid its gaze, and to remain at a safe distance from its tail. After a few short minutes, she began to breathe heavily, and a droplet of sweat rested on the edge of her brow. Running wasn't getting her anywhere. What had Harry said to do? It seemed so simple when he'd said it, but now, when it could have helped her the most, she hadn't the faintest clue what it was.

So she ran and hid again. The basilisk crashed through the chamber, destroying the elegant stone architecture with impunity in its chase. Ginny felt its tail swish behind her and cause her hair to flutter against her shoulders, but again she was a half-step ahead of it. Another few minutes dragged by, and Ginny began to feel the sweat dripping off her skin and soaking into her clothing. This had to end, and fast.

_We have to fight it._

The memory of Harry's voice came rushing back into her head as she hid behind another stone pillar, but it didn't help her at all. How was she supposed to fight a twenty meter serpent that could kill her with a mere glance and slice her open from shoulder to hip with a slight flick of the tail? Harry had fought it, sure, but he was Harry, and he'd had Gryffindor's sword.

She jumped from her hiding spot, this time feeling the air rush by her cheek as the tail swished by. She ran to one of the already damaged pillars, hoping it would hold up long enough for her to think. She wished Harry was there to help her, to show her the way, but he wasn't. He was unconscious back in the hospital wing, no doubt due to some foul play by Snape. He'd already killed the basilisk once - he didn't need to be dealing with her problems again.

The massive head of the basilisk crashed into the floor next to Ginny, searching for her and opening its jaws wide. Ginny looked wildly away from its yellow eyes and dashed off to another, even more damaged pillar and crouched behind it.

_What happens if it catches you?_

She remembered her response as if she'd just said it. She didn't know, and she didn't want to find out. Well, it was about time she bit back her fears and figured it out. This would be the last time she would run, the last time she would hide. Whatever that basilisk represented, she would face it head on. She couldn't run any longer - there was nowhere to hide. It always found her. Steeling her resolve, Ginny stepped out into the path of the basilisk, surprising even herself with her courage and looked straight into its huge yellow eyes. She felt a little queasy, and then a bit like she was floating. The images around her spun, and suddenly, her worst nightmares came to life.

_"You remember Ginny Weasley? She's the one who gave You-Know-Who his life back." _She couldn't put a name to that voice.

_"You were always mine, Ginevra. You always will be." _Tom, of course.

_"Did I really deserve to die, Ginny?" _Hermione, speaking as a barely visible ghost.

_"LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT...THOUGHT WE WOULD DIE OF SHAME!" _Her mother, in that typical Howler address.

_"Why didn't you tell us something was wrong?" _Bill, spoken with a tear in his eye.

_"I thought you were stronger than that, I really did." _Ron, with a look of disbelief so characteristic of him it hurt.

_"I'm sorry I couldn't save you, Ginny. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me." _Harry, looking so devastated, so destroyed that it drove a stake through Ginny's heart, and she cried out in pain. Something was crushing her chest and sucking the life from her in the same instant, and she was powerless to stop it.

Then something warm touched her. Something so vastly different, so drastically changed from the ice cold feelings of guilt and shame that it shocked her. Her eyes snapped open, and she found she was still lying on the floor of the Chamber, but somehow that small black book had fallen on top of her chest, and was open to something in the very middle. That warm feeling broke the train of guilt, and for one, fleeting moment, Ginny was able to sit up and glance down at the page.

Drawn there, in perfect shape, was a solitary emerald green ball that hovered slightly as if it was alive on the page.

------

"Ginny!"

Harry snapped awake and shot straight into a seated position before he even knew where he was. It was bright in the room, and the clean white sheets he had been laying on didn't do anything to help with that issue. A feeling of dread and loss shot through him once again, tinged with a guilt that he was able to separate as not his own. Hermione was in front of him in a flash, looking very worried and a little shocked.

"Are you all right Harry?"

He didn't even pretend to be interested in what she was saying. His eyes caught a familiar flash of red and he was out of bed in an instant, taking a sheet with his legs as he flailed over to Ginny side, noticing immediately that she was sweating profusely and whimpering.

"Ginny?" His voice was much softer, much more comforting this time, almost a whisper in her ear as he hovered over her. Instinctively, his hand reached out to brush her hair, hoping it would comfort her. "Ginny, wake up."

It was no use. If anything, she shivered more violently, and a moment later, she cried out as if in extreme pain. Harry's hands grasped her shoulders and shook her hard. "Ginny, you have to wake up. It's just a nightmare. I have them all the time, you'll be all right."

She still didn't respond - her eyes were squeezed tight against the world, and her body was curled up into a protective fetal position. Harry could feel the terror and pain washing through his heart, which he had to block out to keep his focus. His voice changed from sharp to pleading in an instant.

"Ginny, please wake up. It's only a dream."

Whatever he'd done differently that time seemed to work. He felt her shift from surprise, to awe, to then back to fear, and then her eyes snapped open.

"Harry?"

Neither of them noticed Hermione hovering just behind Harry with an expression that was both concern and smugness. Harry tentatively pulled his hands back from her shoulders, feeling a more than a little embarrassed. Ginny, however, forced a weak smile.

"Thank you."

Harry blinked and gave her an embarrassed shrug. "Er...no problem."

Ginny shivered once, then looked down at her glistening arm. She sat up and looked around, her eyes stopping on Hermione as soon as they caught a glimpse of her bushy hair.

"Hi Hermione."

Hermione bit her lip and hesitated a moment before responding. "Are you all right?"

Ginny looked down again. "I could use a bit of a bath, but yes, I am."

Harry noticed that Ginny looked and felt a bit stiff around the older girl. It had been three days since their little episode in the common room, but those were the first words the two had spoken to each other since. He could tell neither of them were angry over it; apparently it was just awkward.

Madam Pomfrey bustled in and chastised them for not alerting her to Ginny's distress and waking. Harry was surprised to note that nearly an hour had passed since he first passed out, and judging by Ginny's feelings, she was too. Unfortunately, this meant that Harry was banished back to his bed and Hermione had nothing to do but talk to him, since Pomfrey was going over Ginny with more spells than Harry even knew existed. In any case, Harry was eager to avoid any questions about himself and Ginny while the nurse was around, so he spoke before Hermione could get a chance to.

"So where's Ron?"

"I sent him off to lunch. You know how he is if he misses a meal."

Harry did a mental double-take. It wasn't unusual to have Hermione looking after him and worrying over him, but Ron? Harry strongly suspected there was an ulterior motive behind that, but he couldn't figure out what it might be.

"Thanks."

Hermione raised an eyebrow innocently. "For what?"

Harry looked away, unable to meet her eyes. "For keeping Ron out of this."

"Oh, he's not out of this, Harry." Hermione reached out and touched his arm to get his attention, but he instinctively jerked away. Ginny's touch felt completely different - Ginny was warm somehow, while Hermione was cold and distant, but after the analytical look on her face, he didn't have any problems understanding why. "I just thought that you might want a chance to explain before I decide what to tell him."

"Explain what, Miss Granger?"

Harry winced. Madam Pomfrey had finished with Ginny and was now standing next to Hermione with her hands on her hips.

"Nothing, Madam Pomfrey. Just a little thing that's going on between Harry and Ginny." The way she smirked made Harry want to hex her on the spot. Madam Pomfrey nodded in understanding, though she completely the wrong idea.

_She's good._

By now, Harry had finally gotten used to Ginny's voice popping up at even the most unlikely times. It was just a constant fixture in his mind, and it wasn't unusual for either of them to just start talking without preamble. And he had to admit, she was right - Hermione was masterful at manipulating authority and people in general when it suited her needs. It was kind of scary sometimes.

_Yeah. So what happened?_

Madam Pomfrey pushed Harry back to lie down on the bed as she ran him over with another series of spells, though by the frustrated look on her face she wasn't finding much of anything.

_You passed out first. You tell me._

It took a moment for the memories to flood back, but he suddenly had an image of Snape in his head. He shivered violently, drawing concerned expression from both Hermione and Madam Pomfrey, along with a clucking of the medi-witch's tongue.

_Snape tried to break into my mind. That...er...Legilimency stuff we've been reading about I guess._

_He did? That has to be illegal._

_I don't know. Maybe Hermione has read a law about it somewhere._

_You're going to tell Hermione about this?_

Harry paused to glance up at his other best friend. She looked very worried and very confused about something, but there was also that analytical furrow to her brow that meant she was working on a theory to explain the unexplainable, and Harry knew from experience that she probably wasn't far off.

_I think we're going to have to. We can't have her guessing too much longer._

Ginny was quiet after that, and Harry saw her turn over to face away from him in his peripheral vision. He felt that she was unhappy about his decision, but he didn't know what else he could do about it. If Hermione got the wrong idea about what was going on, it could be potentially disastrous.

_I won't tell her if you don't want me to._

Ginny was silent for a minute longer. _No, we're going to tell her. I just don't like it._

_Neither do I, but it'll be nice to have her on our side. She can help us keep it a secret._

_What makes you think she's on our side?_

That comment stung a little more than Harry would have expected it to. Of course Hermione was on their side - they might disagree about certain things and rules and homework, but in the end, they were always together no matter what happened.

_She knows what would happen to us if this got out. She wouldn't want that._

_And do you think she's just going to leave us alone? She's going to have a billion questions for us that we don't know the answer to._

That was true, at least. Hermione would want to know exactly how their bond worked and if she could replicate it with someone else, but Harry hadn't a clue how to answer that. She also would be frustrated with the lack of books on the subject, as Ginny had found in their first (and a couple more this week) trips to the library. Even the Occlumency book didn't help much - every time he tried to relax and calm his mind, he just wound up sitting inside of it.

_We can't tell her, _Ginny suddenly said.

_What?_

_You said Snape used Legilimency on you. He's bound to use it on her, then he'll find out about us._

Hermione was one thing, but if Snape found out about them, Harry had a sneaking feeling that life would become very rough.

_She can learn Occlumency._

Ginny rolled her eyes, even though she was facing away from him. He could feel it anyway. _And you think she's going to be able to stop Snape?_

_Hermione's a powerful witch._

_She'd be pleased if she could hear you._

Harry had to shake his head and blink to clear that out of his head. By now, Madam Pomfrey had gone back into her office muttering about something that was making her unhappy, but Harry had been paying attention enough to know she'd grudgingly given him a clean bill of health. That in itself was quite disturbing, given the mind assault that he'd just undertaken. He wondered why Hermione hadn't said anything yet, but he noticed her giving him a baffled look, and knew that she was still trying to figure them out.

"Hermione...just wait. Wait until we can find somewhere we can't be overheard. Then we'll tell you all about our library snogging sessions." He was joking, of course, and Ginny giggled like mad for some reason, but Hermione took the hint and smiled.

"You know you're giving me all the juicy details."

"Ewww!" Harry recoiled from the unexpected response, to which Ginny sniggered even more. The redhead sat up on her bed as her stomach growled, which Harry felt only through their bond. They exchanged a look, then grinned at each other before standing in unison.

"You have to stop doing that. It's creepy."

Both of their gazes turned to Hermione, who frowning slightly.

"What do you mean?"

They both said it at the exact same moment, and both of them had the grace to look down and shuffle their feet. Hermione didn't say anything - it was quite obvious now what she was talking about.

"Er, well, I think it would be a good idea to get down to lunch," Harry said. "Before someone gets the idea that another troll is walking around in the castle." He shot a look at Ginny, who stuck her tongue out at him. Hermione, if anything, looked more confused and this time she said something.

"What have you done with Harry?"

Ginny blinked for a moment. "What are you talking about? He's always like this."

Hermione raised her eyebrows and looked back at Harry, who turned a light pink. "Is he now?"

"Yeah..." Ginny said slowly. _What is she talking about?_

Harry thought he might have an idea, but he didn't want to explore the ramifications of such thoughts. He'd always felt happier around Ginny, like somehow her personality was rubbing off on him. Ron had always said that she was enthusiastic and cheery, but he hadn't noticed it until the end of the summer. Nevertheless, he'd always felt a little less alone and a little more relaxed whenever they were talking or she was in the room.

_I don't have a clue._ "Come on, let's go down to lunch and find Ron."

Hermione looked as though she wanted to say more, but mercifully, she let it go. The three slipped out of the Hospital Wing, under the watchful eye of Madam Pomfrey the whole way. Hermione said that the medi-witch hadn't found anything wrong with either of them when they were unconscious. Naturally, this led to questions as to what happened, but Harry put it off until their later conversation about "everything."

------

Lunch with Ron was pretty normal, sans the questions about what had happened to both of them. Harry was right in one way - Hermione told Ron that it probably had been something they both ate or drank that didn't agree with them. It was a plausible explanation, since Ron had spotted Harry sharing a box of chocolate frogs with Ginny and hadn't been too pleased with it. Apparently Ginny had a penchant for getting the last frog of every box. She denied it, of course.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was the best class Harry remembered being in, ever. He was still a little miffed as to Lupin's refusal to let him handle the boggart, but he didn't exactly want to face a dementor again, since that was the thing he was most afraid of. And for that matter, he didn't know what would happen to Ginny if he did. Snape had attacked his mind and Ginny had passed out - there was no telling what would happen when he got near a dementor again. They hadn't talked about he first time yet, and it was a general avoidance subject for them.

However, their plans to somehow give Ron the slip at dinner were thwarted by none other than Professor Dumbledore.

_Harry! Professor Dumbledore wants to see me!_

Harry stopped in his tracks, causing Ron to turn around and give him a funny look. Hermione was using the loo (again - it seemed she had to after every class), so it was only the two of them at the moment.

_Why? Did he say?_

_No - he just sent Professor McGonagall to find me._

At this point, Harry had to start walking again, still under a funny look from Ron. "Sorry, just was wondering why Lupin wouldn't let me handle the boggart. I thought I had something, but it's gone now."

That seemed to satisfy Ron, so they continued down toward dinner where they were supposed to be meeting Hermione. _Are you going up to his office?_

_Yes, that's where she said she's taking me._

By now, they were both as nervous Ginny sounded. They'd never really talked about what would happen if Dumbledore started asking questions about them, and now that they'd passed out together at nearly the same time, as well as for no apparent cause, there would be a lot more pointed questions. Harry really didn't want her to have to face it alone, but it appeared that she was going to have to.

_Well, you can always ask me before saying anything. Just tell him you're thinking._

_I will._

------

Ginny Weasley was ghostly pale by the time she and Professor McGonagall reached the gargoyle. After the Head of Gryffindor gave the password ("Chocolate Frogs"), she was left alone to ride up the moving staircase to the Headmaster's office. This alone was ominous enough - not having another person present meant that she was about to have a very private conversation with the most powerful wizard of all-time, and he probably had some very specific questions she didn't want to answer.

She didn't even have to knock - the door swung open of its own accord and Ginny stepped into the office to find Dumbledore hunched over his desk with his quill scratching away at a piece of parchment. She'd been in the office before, on a couple of occasions, the first of which was right after the Chamber incident. It didn't look any different than it had the year before, though she might have said that he'd collected a few new silver trinkets, but it was hard to be sure. Her eyes turned back to Dumbledore, who was now looking up with that characteristic twinkle in his eye and a small smile on his bearded face.

"Ah, paperwork. Makes fools of us all, doesn't it?"

Ginny's mind flashed back to a Potions essay she was supposed to be working on, but with effort she pushed that thought from her mind.

"Come, sit down. No reason to be uncomfortable. Care for a lemon drop?" He offered Ginny the candy with a hand, but she shook her head and sat down on the edge of the chair silently.

"Is there anything you wish to talk about?"

Ginny looked up again and saw concern in the old man's grandfatherly face. She swallowed her nervousness and attempted to form a coherent response in her head, one that was neutral and wouldn't sound like she was avoiding something.

"Am I in trouble?"

Dumbledore chuckled and popped a lemon drop in his mouth. "Oh, nothing like that Miss Weasley. I just thought it was time we had a chat. I thought there might be some things you'd want to talk about given the events of the past year."

Ginny let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She felt her heart start to pump again, and she relaxed back into the chair ever-so-slightly. "Um...no Headmaster. I...I'm getting over it just fine." That reminded her that she still hadn't told Harry about her experience with the second basilisk.

Dumbledore raised a white eyebrow, but said nothing more of it. Instead, he reached over and stroked Fawkes for a moment. "I trust your new wand is working as well as expected?"

Ginny blanched, but it didn't surprise her all that much that Dumbledore knew. "Er...yes sir. You haven't told my Mum, have you?"

"Not for the moment, though I do commend you on pulling one over on Molly. She is a very hard woman to keep something from."

Ginny was still trying to work out how Dumbledore knew that she had a new wand. The only people that knew were Harry, Hermione, and of course Ollivander. Harry wouldn't have said anything, she didn't think Hermione had, so that left Ollivander.

"Is my wand special?"

Dumbledore didn't respond immediately. He sat back in his hair and folded his hands together, obviously thinking. Ginny had a sneaky feeling he was figuring out what not to tell her, but she didn't call him on it. It didn't seem like a very wise idea.

"The phoenix that gave your feather was special, yes." Fawkes let out a long, low, mournful tone that sent a chill down Ginny's spine. It was comforting in a way, and yet it spoke of sadness and loss. "The phoenix that gave your feather shared a special connection to Fawkes, in fact."

Ginny reeled at this information. Harry had said something about Ollivander's attitude, but she'd just put it off to the man's unusual nature and how long it took to find her wand. Perhaps there was something a little more behind it than she'd thought. And the way he'd worded it was even a little fishy - she wanted to talk about anything but connections while in his office.

For lack of anything better to say, Ginny decided to play dumb. "What does that mean?"

He seemed ready for that question. "You know of course, that Harry and Lord Voldemort's wands share a special connection." When Ginny shook her head, Dumbledore looked mildly surprised. "Each of their wand cores were given by the same phoenix, who to this day has only given two feathers. Fawkes, in fact, gave those two feathers. However, Fawkes has shared a special connection with another phoenix who only gave one feather, twelve years ago. That wand, for better or worse, has found its way into your hands and shown that you, Harry, and Lord Voldemort are connected in ways that even I can only begin to guess at."

Ginny shivered violently. Knowingly or not, Dumbledore had just given her worst fear a huge boost. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to be connected to Voldemort like she was to Harry - it would be like the diary, but worse. Not only that, but she'd be a vulnerability to Harry, and would probably wind up getting him killed too. She blinked away the tears, and for the first time, she noticed Dumbledore making eye contact with her. It was an odd feeling - she'd never experienced it before. It felt as though he was looking through her and into her very mind.

With that thought, Ginny felt the not too familiar sensation of falling back into the Chamber, but this time, it seemed more welcoming somehow, and less bitter. Immediately, she looked around for signs of the basilisk, but it wasn't present, and she had a feeling that it wouldn't be.

In any case, she didn't have long before something distracted her from everything else entirely. She _felt_ something to her left and whirled to find Dumbledore taking a light step into the Chamber. She knew immediately what was happening - Harry's experience with Snape was all too fresh in her mind.

Dumbledore looked around for a moment, then locked his eyes on the giant Slytherin statue's foot. Or rather, the worn black book that lay upon it. Ginny wondered what he could want with that, but then she remembered that he couldn't see any of this. Even if she'd never actually tried the Occlumency practice Harry had, she'd read the book and knew that Dumbledore could see none of this. Surely, it would have been documented if the old wizard was an Innate Occlumens - he didn't seem to be the type to hold back information from the community like that. So that meant he was going by feeling, and his feelings were leading him toward the little black book. Ginny instinctively stepped over to the book first, waiting to see what would happen.

Dumbledore's hand reached out for the book, and suddenly, Ginny's mind screamed at her. She snatched the book away just before Dumbledore grasped it, and held it to her chest as she ran away to put most of the statue between her and the Headmaster.

_Ginny? What's wrong?_

Harry's voice echoed in her ears, and she felt the book become warm in her arms. It was a little disorienting at first, as the voice was a lot more audible and clear than their mind-speak, but she calmed herself down enough to respond.

_Nothing - Dumbledore is using Legilimency on me._

_He is?! _Harry sounded outraged, and Ginny braced herself against the wave of anger. _I can't wait -_

_Harry, no! He's just poking around - not forcing anything. He's not even coming after me - he just looks a little confused._

_That's because he can't find you! As soon as he figures out what happened, he's going to come after you._

Movement caught her eye, and Dumbledore seemed to be leaving. _No, he's leaving. He's not coming after me._

_He isn't?_

_He's not like Snape, Harry. I don't think he was going to force anything._

_He better not._

Somewhere deep in Ginny's heart, Harry's protectiveness made her feel really warm and loved. Perhaps that's why the book felt like a warm blanket over her, giving her a sense of security that she'd never felt before. But currently, it was covered with anxiety and Harry's still simmering anger.

The room faded back into Ginny's eyes, and she wondered how long she'd been absent. Dumbledore was looking at her with pure confusion, and his hand was stroking his beard exactly like muggles always imagined old wizards to do.

"I...I'm sorry Professor. I just kind of spaced out there."

He didn't respond for a moment, still thinking. "It's quite all right, Miss Weasley. I am curious, though, as to what you see when you have these black outs."

There it was. The question where Ginny had to decide whether to lie to Dumbledore, or come clean and bring the world down on top of Harry and herself. She debated in her head, for long enough to make Dumbledore prompt her again, but in the end she was sure. What she and Harry had was special, and until it became a danger to either of them, it was theirs and theirs alone.

"Nothing...I...I just black out. Like when Tom was taking control of me."

Dumbledore's eyes widened, and Ginny felt a small surge of satisfaction. Let him chew on that for a while. Serves him right for trying to invade her mind. The two sat in silence for a long minute, then Dumbledore glanced outside and visibly brightened. Or, tried to. Ginny had done enough brightening herself to know how to spot a fake expression when she saw one.

"Madam Pince tells me you checked out a book on the subject of Occlumency, is this correct?"

Ginny froze. She'd just been ready to congratulate herself on keeping everything in control until this moment. "I...er...yes, Professor."

Dumbledore shook his head slightly. "No need to be worried, Miss Weasley. It was I who told Madam Pince to make sure it found its way into your hands. Has it been helpful?"

_He knows._ The thought occurred to her in a flash, but she was fast enough to stop it from going to Harry as well. She wasn't sure that he did - only that he'd just failed at probing her mind.

"A little. It's really hard to clear my mind without actually thinking about it." That much was true, just not in a way that Dumbledore would see it.

"Being able to shield your mind from invasion is an invaluable skill, but there aren't many in the wizarding world that can master it. Give it time."

Ginny fidgeted a little, turning that over in her mind. Perhaps that's why Harry couldn't block her out - she wasn't invading his mind - she was just there, like she'd always been there.

"So why did you want me to have the book?"

Dumbledore paused. "I thought that would be quite obvious, after your experience with Tom."

It was all Ginny could do not to collapse in the chair. She and Harry had actually pulled one over on Dumbledore. He might have his suspicions, but he wasn't voicing them, and he didn't give her the book because he wanted to prompt her for an explanation. "Thank you, Headmaster."

They sat for a while and Ginny got the distinct impression she was being studied. After a few minutes, Dumbledore looked out the window and stood. "I didn't mean to keep you from your dinner. If you hurry down you might be able to catch the last of dessert." The tone was right, the posture and the face was right, but the sparkle in his eyes was gone. Ginny wondered if she'd gone too far in suggesting that Tom was still inside of her - she really didn't know, but she did know the black outs weren't related.

In any case, she headed down the moving staircase and breathed another sigh of relief. She felt that she'd avoided telling Dumbledore anything important, and she had a sneaking suspicion the only reason he'd wanted to see her in person was to creep into her mind. She knew Harry saw the Headmaster one on one a lot - it was very possible that Dumbledore had been doing it to Harry since the first day.

She was about to ask Harry where he was, but somehow she knew without a doubt he was back in the common room. It was more of a directional thing than anything else, but the only thing in the direction that she felt him in was Gryffindor Tower. Well, the only place he should be, anyway. The Great Hall was in a different direction.

It was a long, silent walk up to the portrait of the Fat Lady, giving Ginny ample time to think. What did the diary mean? It was obvious now that her thoughts were all stored inside of it and she was going to have to get used to that, but why the diary? It was the last thing she wanted to open up and read, and she wasn't even sure if she wanted to, even if it meant finding Harry inside. She had, in fact, found him before she woke up in the Hospital Wing, but it was only a fleeting glimpse and based on what Harry had told her - she could only assume that the green represented his eyes in a way that he said the red represented her hair.

Through all this, Ginny was slightly scared. Not in any specific sense, but she had the feeling she was thinking in ways she shouldn't be. Not yet, anyway. Whatever happened to having an absurd crush on Harry and writing in a diary? Those are things a twelve year old girl should be doing, not this. She didn't even know what it was that bothered her, but she felt a familiar irritation rise inside of her at being in the dark, and at something else she couldn't describe. It felt like ages before she gave the password and climbed through the portrait hole, but it was worth it when she saw those familiar green orbs lock on her.

------

Harry was anxious. There was really no other word for it - he, Ron, and Hermione had come back from dinner after Ginny didn't show up, and Harry had vowed not to bother her in her meeting with Dumbledore again. He knew how distracting having someone talk in your head could be, so he left her alone and hoped she would come talk to him if she needed anything.

Ron and Hermione were having a game of chess, but it was more about the conversation than the chess game. For once, they were talking about something as blissfully ignorant as everyone else ("What d'you think Hogsmeade will be like?" asked Hermione) while Harry only half-listened and kept at least one, if not both, eyes on the portrait hole the whole time. To be honest, he was even feeling slightly irritated without a clue as to why. He could barely keep his mind on the conversation enough to keep the attention away from him, and his eyes kept twitching toward the door at the smallest opportunity. When she finally did appear, it was like his entire body breathed out in relief and his nerves calmed, as well as hers, he noticed. His eyes locked onto her and he gave up all pretense of being interested in Hogsmeade - he wasn't going anyway. He did, however, stop himself from getting up and rushing over to her. She dropped her bag beside a chair and pulled it up next to Harry, crowding one side of the chess board; not that Harry minded.

"We brought dinner for you if you're hungry," Hermione said, and she pointed out a small plate of food covered in foil sitting on the table. Ginny shook her head.

"I'm not feeling well, but thanks anyway."

She did look a little pale, but Harry knew she was starving - yet another feeling that he felt without knowing how or why. Luckily, Ron didn't seem to be available to comment because he was studying the chessboard like it was a textbook before an OWL exam. Hermione gave Ginny a funny look, but she turned back to the chess game as Ron made a move.

"So where have you been?" Ron asked, looking at Ginny. Harry had wisely not said anything about Ginny's meeting with Dumbledore, since there was no possible way he could have known about it.

"I had to go see Dumbledore about something." Already Harry could feel her relaxing and becoming herself again - apparently there was something about the common room that helped her forget about her meeting/questioning from the Headmaster.

"What about?"

Ginny glared at her brother. "As if it's any of your business."

Ron looked up from the chess pieces. "Of course it's my business. You're my sister."

Harry felt tension between his shoulder blades and in his chest and knew it was time to step in. "He probably just wanted to offer her a lemon drop. He does that every time I go up there."

Both Ron and Hermione stared at him in disbelief, but Ginny let out a snort of laughter. "Actually, he did offer me one."

Harry chuckled as well, relieved he didn't have to listen to Ron and Ginny row. He had more important things on his mind, such as getting Hermione without Ron. For being at odds with each other a lot, the two were really hard to separate. Ron quickly checkmated Hermione and celebrated his victory, to which Hermione just smiled and shook her head. The outcome of the game was never in question - but for reasons unclear to Harry, Hermione had offered to play. Perhaps she didn't want Ron feeling left out.

Suddenly, Ron yawned loudly and looked surprised at himself. "Wow, I'm really tired for some reason."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's all that thinking you've been doing."

"How would thinking make me tired?"

Hermione shook her head and stood, stretching her legs. "Well then, are you off to bed?"

He looked about read to protest, but another yawn cut through the words and Ron looked as though he was working to keep his eyes open. "I reckon so." He gave Harry and Ginny a cursory glance, but Harry could tell he was already thinking about his bed. Ron always did when he got tired. "Well, g'night." He stood and headed off up the boys' staircase. Ginny was all over Hermione by the time Harry finished watching him go.

"You drugged him, didn't you?"

Hermione turned bright pink and mumbled something unintelligible. For a moment Ginny looked as though she was going to criticize the older witch, but a huge grin broke out and her eyes sparkled once again.

"That was brilliant! You'll have to show me how to brew the potion you used - I've never seen anything knock him out like that."

Harry chuckled along with Ginny's amusement, which turned Hermione an even brighter shade of pink. She coughed to cover her embarrassment, and then looked around the room before pulling out her wand and muttering a low charm onto her chair. Harry gave her a funny look.

"Mild repelling charm. Someone will have to have a good reason to come talk to us to come over here."

Harry blinked, but he didn't bother disputing her claim, and wouldn't have even if he understood exactly what she'd said. Either way, she was now trying to look patient while still giving him and Ginny an expectant look. The common room was far from empty, but they were over in a corner away from most of the people and probably couldn't be overheard, but Harry didn't want to take the chance. They still had forty-five minutes until curfew.

"I don't want to take any chances - let's go down to the library. Nobody in their right mind will be there right now."

Hermione looked mildly offended at the comment, but she didn't say anything about it. "All right. Let me get some books so we can at least make it look good."

Harry nodded. "I've got to get something from my room. I'll be back in a minute." He stood and left, feeling Ginny's impatience behind him. He could tell that she just wanted to get this over with, but he didn't want to rush anything and have something go wrong. He found Ron was already snoring when he came into the room, and silently agreed with Ginny that they needed to get some of whatever knocked him out so well. It only took him a moment to push aside his Invisibility Cloak and pull out the Occlumency book. On his way back down the stairs, he waved his wand and doused most of the lights, hoping Ron would sleep through the night.

------

The walk to the library was as silent as their first one, but not nearly as uncomfortable. Hermione took charge of spreading out books while Harry and Ginny sat across from her and shared a silent encouragement for each other. Harry was right about one thing - the library was totally empty except for a surly looking Madam Pince, but that was so normal Harry ignored it. Hermione finally sat down and looked slightly annoyed, and really, Harry didn't blame her. She'd been getting quite the run-around.

"We're not really sure how to tell you, so I guess we'll have to figure out a way to show you." Harry began, shifting and shoving his hands in his pockets even though he was sitting at a table. "Our minds are bonded so that we can talk to each other and feel each other's feelings."

Hermione blinked...then blinked again. Her irritation vanished as bafflement took over. "What?" she asked blankly.

Harry shook his head, realizing she was going to need proof. He'd thought about how to convince her during her and Ron's chess game, and he'd come up with sort of an idea.

"Write a really long number on a piece of parchment, but don't let Ginny see it."

Hermione gave him a disbelieving look, but she took out her quill and scribbled away as Harry stood and walked around to the other side of the table. Apparently Hermione was taking this seriously though, because the number she wrote was ten digits long and had a decimal point in it. He started repeating the digits to Ginny in her head when she burst out laughing. Both Harry and Hermione looked at her like she was crazy, so she forced a breath and explained.

"Harry, that's PI. Muggles use it all the time in math."

Hermione looked vaguely impressed, then the reality of what she'd heard hit her. She looked up at Harry (who was standing behind her) and scribbled away again. Even Harry had to laugh as Ginny repeated the numbers as fast as Hermione could write them. Finally, she put down her quill and looked up at Harry again.

"This is real, isn't it?"

"Yep." He walked back around to his seat and sat down. "But...it's not like you think. We can't turn it off. It was great during the summer - we talked all the time and that's how I figured out I wanted to be a curse-breaker - Ginny talked about it all the time. But then, after the dementors attacked, we started to feel each other's feelings."

For once, Hermione seemed to be lost for words. Ginny was happy to let Harry explain - he was doing a much better job of it than she would have. It was a few moments before Hermione opened her mouth, and another few before she figured out what to say.

"This has been going on the whole summer?"

Harry looked over at Ginny. _How much do you want to tell her?_

Ginny sighed inwardly. _I guess everything now._

Harry nodded, then gave an apologetic look at Hermione. "Sorry. And yes - we had a shared dream at the beginning of the summer, and we found out from there. Ginny kinda just started talking to me - I don't know how she did it."

Ginny squirmed in her chair. "Actually, Harry did it first. After...After I tried to call him, and his uncle answered, I thought he was angry me. I heard him yell my name in my head, and I thought he was just so angry that I felt it. It took me a week to even talk back."

Harry stared at her, but he didn't say anything. She'd never told him that, but then again, it was obvious that she wouldn't have wanted to. Hermione's eyes glazed over in a look that told Harry she was filing away all this information for later, but suddenly, she took out a fresh roll of parchment and started scribbling. Harry nearly jumped on her for it, but Ginny laid a hand on his arm.

"Hermione, can you not do that? We really don't want to have this written down anywhere."

She looked up. "Oh, don't worry, I can charm it so no one can read it but us."

"Will it stop Dumbledore?"

This time, her quill actually paused. "You haven't told Dumbledore?"

"We haven't told anyone. You're the first."

Hermione looked rather surprised, and truth be told, rather flattered. "I...I suppose I can just try to remember it all." She looked regretfully down at the parchment, then tore off the little bit she wrote and muttered a quick spell, and it vanished into a ball of blue flame. Somewhere that registered in Harry's mind, but he couldn't remember where he'd seen it recently.

"We'll be glad to tell you anything we've told you over again," Harry offered. "Just keep this between the three of us."

Hermione nodded. "I promise I won't tell anyone. But why did you decide to tell me?"

Harry and Ginny shared another look, and a brief debate in feelings. Harry lost. "Because you wouldn't leave us alone."

Hermione had the grace to look away, but she didn't appear all that embarrassed. "Well, you have to admit you two are behaving rather oddly."

Harry didn't dispute that point, and neither did Ginny. Harry glanced across the books scattered ont he table, actually considering looking at one of them, but he gave it up. There was too much on his mind right now. He looked back up at Hermione before speaking.

"So do you have any questions?"

Ginny gave him a death glare; probably for good reason too. Hermione would probably barrage them with questions all night if they let her, but at least this was a way to get the most important ones out of her head.

"Actually, yes. What do you mean when you say you can't turn it off? Can't you just not listen?"

Harry and Ginny smiled together, but Harry answered. "It doesn't work that way. I don't know how to explain it. Have you ever felt something, but you don't know why you're feeling it?"

Hermione's eyebrow furrowed. "Sort of? I suppose monthly." She glanced at Ginny. "Ginny probably knows what I'm talking about."

Ginny flushed a furious red. "Er...Harry's already gotten a bit of that. First morning we got here."

Harry was lost, but Hermione actually giggled. _Hermione giggled_. Harry had to reach up and rub his ears to make sure he heard what he thought he did.

"What's funny?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Nothing, Harry. But go on, I know what you mean."

He gave her a look that he hoped told her he wasn't going to let it go that easily, but he moved on. "Well, it's like that. Like tonight - I feel hungry even though I just ate because Ginny hasn't yet."

Hermione took a moment to process that. "Okay...and so it's like this all the time? You'd know, if, say, one of you suddenly passed out?"

Her subtlety was non-existent, but Harry was glad they were getting to that quickly. "We haven't really talked about it yet, but I think Ginny got really sick when I passed out. But we go to sleep on each other all the time, so it wasn't just that." He looked over at Ginny for support, but she shrugged helplessly.

"How much do you know about Legilimency?"

Hermione looked surprised. "How do you know about Legilimency? I've never been able to find it in a school library - I had to get my parents to special order books for me."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "We only learned about it because Ginny got a book on it from the Restricted Section."

Hermione sucked in a breath and fixed her eyes on Ginny. "You stole it?"

Ginny spoke for the first time in a while. "No...Madam Pince gave it to me. At first I just thought she did it by herself, but Dumbledore told her to give it to me. That's part of what he wanted to see me about."

That was news to Harry, but he didn't blame Ginny for not telling him - it wasn't exactly like they'd had time to talk even since they'd passed out together that morning.

"Dumbledore gave it to you?" By now Hermione sounded shocked, and Harry didn't blame her.

"Pretty much." Ginny shrugged.

Harry waited a moment for Hermione to catch up, then started in again. "Anyway, what we think happened is Snape used a Legilimency attack on me, and in defending against it I passed out. I think he's been using it on me ever since I got here, but I can't prove it."

"But then how come you never noticed it before?"

Harry glanced at Ginny. "Because of our bond. We think we're Innate Occlumens."

Wherever Hermione knew about Legilimency and Occlumency, it must have been pretty thorough because her eyes widened in recognition. "You don't mean..."

Harry nodded. "How much do you know?"

Hermione frowned. "Not much, really. No one seems to know anything. It's just said that they can completely disappear from even the most skilled Legilimens, and it takes no training for them to do so. That's why they're called innate."

"Well, that's almost all of what we know. Added onto that, we can visualize our minds such that they're a real place to us, not just our imaginations. That's how I knew what Snape was up to - he walked into my mind."

Both Harry and Ginny shared inward amusement as they could almost see Hermione's brain spinning inside of her head. They decided to be nice and wait for her to catch up, which took quite a bit of time considering.

"Are you sure I can't take just a few notes?"

Harry shook his head. "No, we'd rather you not. But I promise, if we ever do come out with it, you'll be the only one allowed to study us."

Hermione frowned. "I don't want to _study_ you."

Harry laughed. "Oh, come on Hermione. You know you've been burning with curiosity even before we told you what was going on. You don't have to pretend - we understand."

_Maybe you do._

_Quiet, Ginny._

Hermione still looked vaguely unhappy, but she didn't argue any further. "So what does it look like?"

It took Harry a moment to understand. "Like my room up in the tower, except there are tons of little floating items all over the place. I just have to focus on one and I visualize all the thoughts associated with it. You remember that broomstick kit you sent me?" She nodded - Harry had sent a rather long thank-you note back to her after that. "All the things I know about broomcare are represented by that. If I just think about it, I can see all of the things right in front of me."

That was a lot to chew, and Hermione took a few minutes to think it over. Harry felt Ginny's hand reach for his under the table, and he didn't resist when she clasped them together. _I feel like I'm giving my soul away._

Harry didn't know what to say to that. _I do too, but there's no one I trust more than Hermione._

_Even me?_

Harry rolled his eyes and gave her the smallest of mental swats. _Of course you're first, but you sort of already knew._

This seemed to cheer her up a bit.

"So what am I?"

Harry blinked and shook his head to clear it. "What?"

"What am I represented by?" The look on her face was so earnest that Harry suppressed his laughter. He let his eyes flutter half-closed and he fell back into his subconscious, putting out a call for Hermione as he went. It came to him almost immediately - a book in her handwriting, that seemed to be about a few thousand pages too long for its size. He'd never realized he knew so much about Hermione. Out of curiosity, he flipped through it and wondered how he could possibly find anything. He figured that her physical description - wow. Okay, that worked. The book flipped itself to about the hundredth page, and the parts that related to his question were highlighted in green ink, while the rest was in black. Vaguely, Harry wondered if this was more his representation of Hermione, or Hermione's representation of herself. It was probably a combination of both - Harry had always been sensitive to what she wanted and thought about things, even if Ron hadn't so much.

_Harry..._

Ginny's voice was sing-song in his head, making him pop back to consciousness immediately. He found both girls grinning at him as if sharing a joke, which he found out they were.

"Get lost in there?" Ginny asked.

Harry rolled his eyes and ignored her. "It's a book, in your handwriting. I think it's a few thousand pages long, but I wasn't sure - it looked a lot smaller than it was. It was brown, like the color of your hair, and it had your name in gold on the front."

If anything, Hermione's smile got bigger. However, she turned to Ginny first. "Whatever you're doing to him, keep doing it. I like Harry this way."

Suddenly, Harry was aware that he was alone in a library near closing time with two girls, who happened to be his best friends. The feeling made him wish for Ron, of all people, and he squirmed as well as pulling his hand out of Ginny's. Both girls sniggered as Hermione looked at her watch, which she had charmed to work even with all the magic around.

"We better be going - Madam Pince is going to kick us out soon." She began packing up books, but Harry pulled another small one out of his robe pocket.

"Here, you'll want to read this. It's not really going to help us."

Hermione's eyes flashed as she reached out for it. She studied the front cover for a moment, obviously trying to find the title. She looked up as she found it.

"You sure? Because Snape might try again."

Harry shook his head. "No, I know how to stop him now. I'm more worried about you."

"Me?"

"If Snape figures out you know something, he'll try you. And as much as I love Snape," Harry paused to emphasize the sarcasm, "I would rather him not know about this."

Hermione nodded. "I've done a little bit of studying, but I've never had any real practice. I'll do what I can though."

"Just remember to not make eye contact. That makes it a lot easier for him."

She nodded again. "Thank you for telling me all this Harry. I...I'm sorry about all the trouble I've caused you."

_If you say no problem, I'm going to hurt you._

"Don't mention it."

That seemed to satisfy both girls. The three of them cleaned up the library table and put all the books back in Hermione's bag, changing the subject to something lighter and something that could be overheard without getting asked questions. On the way back up, though, Ginny did say one last thing that put Harry on alert.

_Don't plan on going to bed. We still have to talk about Dumbledore. I don't want to mention it in front of Hermione._

Harry understood - Hermione was big on authority. She would probably suggest telling at least Dumbledore everything, if not McGonagall, for a variety of reasons, but she'd given her word not to tell them herself. That was one thing that Hermione was good for - she always did what she said she was going to do.

As they entered the portrait hole, Harry wondered what could have possibly gone on during Dumbledore's meeting to make Ginny feel the way she had.

------

Harry had been laying in bed for about five minutes or so when Ginny's voice sounded in his head. They'd had to go up to their dormitories to get rid of Hermione, who Harry had seen running her fingers over the Occlumency book even while trying to pay attention to Harry and Ginny's idle conversation. Hermione took the hint not to talk about their connection in such a public place, but she wasn't going to miss anything that the two might do or say to give her more understanding. When they'd finally decided to retire, Harry was welcomed to the dormitory by Ron's soft snores, which were comforting in their own right.

_I faced the basilisk._

Harry felt a surge of satisfaction at his shock, and pushed a feeling of indignance at Ginny. _That's not funny._

_Sure it is._ Her voice was teasing and light. Harry waited a good few moments before replying, just to emphasize the pointed ignoring of the subject.

_So what happened?_

_Well, you know what I was feeling. _Harry silently agreed. It hadn't been pretty. _I...I think the basilisk was kind of like the dementors, only it fed off my fear._

_Huh?_

Ginny paused for a moment to call on her recently gained knowledge of dementors. _Dementors feed off of people's happiness - it's like food for them. I think the basilisk was just feeding off my fear, so when I turned to face it, it disappeared._

_Something happened though._

She didn't deny it. _I had to face my fears, Harry. What did you expect?_

_Er..._

Ginny sighed. _You know what I'm talking about._

Harry thought about this for a long moment, wondering what she meant. She seemed a little upset by his confusion, but he couldn't help it. When he didn't respond, Ginny grudgingly supplied it for him.

_What would have happened if you hadn't been there to save me._

Oh. It made sense now, and Harry made a connection. _It wasn't fear, Ginny, it was guilt._

It was her turn to be confused. _Huh?_

_You told me you couldn't talk to anyone about anything because you felt so guilty - I think you wouldn't even talk to yourself about it. That's why the basilisk was keeping you out of your own mind._

Harry felt her thinking hard for a minute that stretched into two or three. He felt vaguely pleased with himself, and Ginny apparently felt that too. _I suppose you did actually say something smart._

_I say smart things all the time._

_That's what you think, _Ginny teased. Harry pouted and turned over on his side in his bed, as if turning away from her imaginary body next to him.

_I saw you._

Harry stopped his hurt act for a moment to ponder that. _In your mind?_

_Yeah. You're a green ball, the color of your eyes. But my thoughts are all stored in the diary. They're not just all over the place._

Harry's brow furrowed. _Well, that makes sense. You wrote everything in it last year, so that's where it will be. I've never really tried to organize my thoughts._

_But I don't want it to be there._

He really didn't have anything to say about that, and unfortunately, he yawned quite visibly as a sleepy feeling washed over him.

_We should be getting to bed._

_What about Dumbledore._

_We'll talk in the morning._

Harry wanted to argue, but it was quite clear that Ginny didn't want to talk about it anymore.

_I'm here when you want to talk_

_I know._

Harry sighed. _Good night, Ginny._

_Night, Harry._

It was a long while before Harry was able to drift off to sleep, and judging from Ginny's feelings, she wasn't having any more luck than he was. Sometime early in the morning, Harry felt her start to drift off and allowed himself to be washed in the feelings, dragging him under as well.

------

_**A/N:** Yes, I'm finally updating! I won't go into detail (though if you're really curious, my LJ talks a bit about it), but real life kept me from getting into the flow of writing and I got struck with writer's block at the worst time. Hopefully this chapter is up to standards, and I'm going to try to keep my updates more regular._

_As always, thanks so much for all of the reviews. I thought of something, and along with my reviewers asking questions of me, I have a question for all of you. What do you think of Dumbledore's actions in this chapter? I'm always looking for input, and he's one of the hardest characters to write well._

_Once again, sorry about the wait and I hope you enjoyed this chapter._


	6. Runes, Ron, and Research

**6: Runes, Ron, and Research**

The next morning, Harry woke feeling rested, if not perfect. It was the feeling he always felt after going to bed worried about something, and that something was usually more of a someone, namely Ginny. He pushed thoughts of her from his mind and put on his glasses as he rolled out of bed in the direction of Ron's. The redhead was still asleep, much to Harry's surprise, and it took quite a vigorous shake of the shoulders to get a noise out of him.

"Go 'way," Ron mumbled, shoving his face into the pillow.

Harry rolled his eyes. Ron actually thought he could stay in bed longer, for reasons unclear to him. "You'll miss breakfast if you don't get up."

The redhead groaned and sat up, much to Harry's amusement. Threatening Ron with missing breakfast was like threatening Hermione with less than perfect marks - both would do anything to avoid it.

"I slept really well last night," Ron said, rubbing his eyes with his hands as Harry dug around in his trunk for his school uniform.

"Good, because we've got Ancient Runes today. Maybe you'll actually stay awake."

Ron groaned and followed Harry in dressing. Harry had only been half kidding about missing breakfast - they were already late, judging by the rather empty dormitory. Neville, Seamus, and Dean must have already gone down to the Great Hall without waking them. They dressed in silence, in which Harry thought about the previous night's events. Hermione would be acting different toward himself and Ginny, and Ginny had hinted at making progress with her mind before refusing to talk about it. He'd have to corner her sometime today.

As if reading his thoughts, Ron asked, "So what's up with you and Ginny?"

That was a difficult question if Harry had ever been asked one. "We're not going out if that's what you're asking. I don't want a girlfriend."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Come on mate, you wouldn't mind having a girl to snog in a broom closet every once in a while. As long as it isn't my sister."

Harry shrugged. "Not really. It just doesn't sound like fun." Okay, that was a small bit of a lie, but one that was necessary from Harry's point of view. He had, in fact, noticed that there were pretty girls around Gryffindor tower, not the least of which were on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. As if to illustrate that point, he'd seen Katie Bell in the common room a couple nights ago and wondered why he'd never noticed how pretty she looked before now.

Ron was quiet for a moment, then fixed Harry with the most serious stare that he'd ever seen from the redhead. "You're...you're not...gay, are you?"

Harry immediately burst out laughing. "No, Ron."

As odd as the question might have sounded, Ron looked immensely relieved. Harry wondered if that was such a big problem, but then he considered that the two slept next to each other almost every night of the year and understood Ron's hesitation. He'd probably feel a little strange as well if Ron suddenly admitted to swinging the other way.

The pair finished dressing and walked down to breakfast, talking rather pointedly about everything happy and good in life. It was a bit forced in Harry's opinion, given the conversation in the dormitory, but Harry was glad to put that behind him. Ginny and Hermione were already almost through with breakfast when Ron and Harry sat opposite them, and both of them were strangely silent. Harry threw Ginny a questioning look and got his answer.

_We were talking about mind-visions, as Hermione puts it._

He could tell she was a bit annoyed, and with the questioning that Hermione had probably put her though, he didn't blame her. Hermione pulled out her Ancient Runes text (which Harry hadn't even opened yet) and began studying, though Ron was too engrossed in his pile of sausage to make his normal snide comment. Harry ate a bit of breakfast, but he wasn't too hungry for some reason. Perhaps it had to do with Ginny already stuffing herself full of food and that stuffed feeling coming through their bond. He knew he would be absolutely ravenous by lunch, but that was all right with him. At least if he had food in his mouth, he wouldn't have to talk about classes with Hermione.

------

Ancient Runes was nothing like Harry expected. He'd expected it to be difficult, time-consuming, and rather boring, but it was none of the above. Much to Hermione's later consternation, he just got it. There was really no other way to describe it - as soon as Professor Edeson said something, Harry made the connection and learned it. Of course, Hermione was too busy taking notes to notice this during class, but Ron figured it out nearly right away, after nudging Harry with his elbow.

"You getting any of this?"

Harry waited until the Professor finished the sentence he was saying, then shrugged and whispered back. "Yeah, makes sense to me."

"Mr. Potter! Please pay attention in class, or I shall separate you and Mr. Weasley."

Harry nodded and received a dark look from Hermione, who was sitting in front of him, but he shrugged it off. He paid attention the rest of the class (which was remarkably easier when he could follow the lecture), and as soon as it was over, Ron launched into his predictable groaning.

"I don't know how I let you talk me into this, Hermione. I feel like I'm about to explode, and it's only been a week."

Hermione made an indignant noise. "Honestly, Ron, if you would just pay attention in class I'm sure you would find it to be quite a bit easier."

Harry tuned out their bickering for a minute, instead letting what he had learned wash over in his head. It didn't feel so much like learning it for the first time - it felt more like he'd always known it, and now he was just re-learning something he'd already mastered. That was impossible, of course, but maybe this was what Hermione felt like all the time. If she did, then he envied her greatly. He couldn't imagine feeling like this for all of his classes.

"Did you really?"

Harry zoned back into the conversation. "Huh?"

Hermione sighed, annoyed. "Did you really get what Professor Edeson was talking about?"

"Er...yeah." Harry shrugged. "It didn't seem that hard to me. It's just a bunch of memorization and spotting patterns."

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"You just have to know what the runes mean to translate them, and there's always a pattern to figure out the ones you don't remember. I thought it was rather obvious."

Both Hermione and Ron stared at him incredulously. Ron's look didn't bother him so much, but when Hermione looked lost when it came to one of his classes, something had to be wrong. Or rather, he had to be wrong.

"Of course...I could be wrong about everything," Harry said quickly, but Hermione was already flipping through _Ancient Runes Made Easy, _notably to the back. She handed him the book and pointed to a trio of symbols that Harry vaguely recognized from the Professor's introduction. After flipping back a few pages and looking at a few more lines of runes, Harry pointed at each of them in turn.

"Honestly, Hermione, I don't know what you expect me to do with these, but the runes are iwaz, algiz, and nauthiz. The book says iwaz is strength based on the yew tree, algiz is protection, and nauthiz is need." He shrugged. "I'm guessing someone is about to get attacked."

Instead of the laughs that he expected from Ron, and the indignance from Hermione, they both stopped in the middle of the hallway, looking at him like they were seeing someone entirely different. Harry's eyebrows furrowed as he turned toward them. "What?"

Hermione recovered her voice first, but it was a few moments until she did so. "Harry...that's right."

"Er...yeah?"

Hermione shook her head. "How do you get it that easily?"

He'd been debating that all class himself, and he hadn't come up with a good answer. "I don't know. It just makes sense."

Hermione started walking again, and after a moment, Ron realized he was causing a bit of a traffic jam and moved on as well. Hermione got that confused expression Harry had been seeing for a while now, and her eyes weren't much above her feet as she walked. It was a good thing that Ron and Harry were on either side of her, or she might have missed a a few turns on their way to Charms.

"Harry?" Hermione suddenly looked up. "Did you know that those are the runes for a basic Anti-Intrusion ward?"

Harry blinked. "What do runes have to do with wards?"

"You haven't done any research on it?"

His expression turned into a slightly guilty one. "Not really."

Hermione looked exasperated, but she didn't say anything about it as they entered the Charms classroom and were greeted by Professor Flitwick. They found their seats at the back of the classroom, though Harry felt Ron's eyes on him the whole way, and it wasn't a good feeling.

"You all right, Ron?"

Ron looked as though he snapped out of a trance, and a fake smile worked its way onto his face. "Yeah. Just wondering what's for lunch."

Harry seriously doubted that Ron was as all right as he pretended to be, but he had to let it go as Flitwick climbed on top of his pile of books and began lecturing about Flame-Freezing Charms. Hermione, of course, had already mastered these by her second year (fire seemed to be specialty of Hermione's), but without Ron to talk to, Harry was forced to pay attention and take notes on the lecture.

------

The rest of the day went pretty normally - neither Ron nor Hermione mentioned his seeming proficiency in Runes - and the afternoon was filled with History of Magic, which was about as exciting as feeding flobberworms. Harry nearly dozed off and had to be shaken out of his trance by a reproachful looking Hermione at the end of the class, after which they headed back to the common rooms. Hermione mumbled something about having to be somewhere (Harry didn't pay attention), which left him alone with Ron on the way back to the common room.

"You all right?" Harry repeated his question from earlier, thankful that they had more time and wouldn't be cut off by class.

"Yeah." He was lying though - Harry could tell by the way he shuffled his feet and didn't make much attempt at conversation. Ron was always the lively one of the trio, always finding something to go on about even if Harry and Hermione weren't much interested in talking. Harry imagined that without Ron, his life would be very much on the boring side and he'd never have anyone to talk to. Hermione was all right for a while, but she wasn't much of a conversationalist.

"I don't believe you," Harry replied bluntly.

Ron sighed and looked up for the first time, and at Harry. "No, really, I am. It's just weird."

"What is?"

"You, Hermione, and Ginny."

Harry blinked. "What about us?"

Ron shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

No matter how much Harry pressed, Ron wouldn't say anything more about the subject, and developed a curious case of deafness that extended until Harry talked about something different. Though Harry had an idea of what his best friend meant, he wanted to hear it verbalized and wanted to make sure he wasn't wrong. He made a mental note to suggest going flying tomorrow with just Ron to see if he could get it out of him then.

Ginny was sitting by the fire in the common room when they arrived, but Harry didn't immediately go over to her. He wanted to - they hadn't talked all day, for some reason - but instead he followed Ron over to a table and dropped his bag on the floor. Ron seemed a little surprised by this, which made Harry wonder what was going through his best friend's mind.

"I think I'm ready for Quidditch practice."

Ron snorted. "You've been ready since last season ended."

He had to agree. "So when are you going to get the nerve to try out?"

"After Oliver leaves. I haven't got a chance at anything until someone leaves - you've got Gryffindor's best team in years."

Harry shrugged. "You could always try out for Seeker. Oliver might take you because you don't have your own bed in the Hospital Wing."

"I'd be a terrible seeker. Haven't got the build for it." Ron wrinkled his nose. "Besides, all you do is sit on a broom and look for flashes of gold all game. It can't be that exciting."

It was a bit more than that, but Harry didn't feel the need to correct him. There were a lot of things you learned in two years of seeking that you just can't explain over a table. Suddenly, two more redheads swarmed Harry's vision, and a smile involuntarily crossed his lips.

"Did we hear Ronniekins is going out for the Quidditch team?"

"A Seeker, no less. Harry, old boy, looks like you're going to have a run for your galleons."

Fred and George took seats on either side of Ron with their usual flair, throwing their arms around their brother and causing his ears to turn pink. Harry's smile became more permanent - the twins were always good for a few laughs.

"He might be good for a little blatching, even if he couldn't find the Snitch," Harry replied, to which the twins sniggered and even Ron had to smile and roll his eyes.

"Harry might be able to win us a Cup if he stays out of the Hospital Wing long enough," Ron teased back. The twins shared a dark look between themselves, causing Harry to squirm in his chair. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ginny look up toward him, no doubt sensing his discomfort, but as soon as their eyes met, she went back to her book and Harry was left feeling a little confused. She had to feel that, too, but she didn't give any indication she noticed.

"We'll keep you uninjured this year even if we have to follow you around with our bats, eh Fred?"

"Right-o, dear brother. I reckon Wood'll be on a rampage this year. His last chance, you know."

"Too right." George nodded sagely, as if pondering a very serious matter. Harry grinned at their exchange, then something caught his attention that he hadn't thought of before. Fred and George had a special twin connection that wasn't that much unlike his and Ginny's connection - probably less advanced, but it was still the same idea. He'd have to talk to Ginny about it later, if she wanted to talk to him. He threw another look over at the youngest Weasley, but she was still engrossed in her essay - Potions, from the looks of it.

"Well, we best be off." George said, as he and Fred stood.

"People to see, things to do, mischief to cause." Fred winked at Harry, then paraded off with George to the middle of the common room and into the pile of people there, no doubt to refine their comedian act. As they retreated, Hermione slipped in the portrait hole, looking distinctly frazzled and more than a little worn out. Much more so than Harry and Ron had left her in the halls.

"Hello." Even her voice was tired as she laid her bags down and fell into a chair.

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing _happened_ to me, Ron. I'm just a little tired, that's all."

Harry didn't believe her so much, but he didn't say anything about it. She looked about ready to fall asleep there on the table, and he didn't especially want to be snapped at. Instead, he stood and made his way over to where Ginny was sitting, taking a seat opposite her as she looked up from her book. She felt annoyed and more than a little guilty, though Harry hadn't a clue where either emotion came from. He stared at the fire, letting the flames warm him slightly before speaking.

_Is everything all right?_

_  
Why wouldn't it be?_

_I don't know...we just haven't talked all day._

_We don't have to be around each other every second._

Harry's brow furrowed as Ginny's irritation increased. _Did I do something wrong?_

_No._

Instead of replying, Harry let his confusion and remorse flow through their bond. He didn't know exactly what he was feeling sorry for, but whatever he'd done to irritate Ginny was something he would apologize for. It wasn't easy having your other half angry with you.

_I just don't want to talk right now, all right?_

_All right...I just don't like you being irritated at me._

_You should get used to it - my brothers could tell you that._

Harry didn't respond. He didn't think he could ever get used to feeling her irritation and knowing it was directed at him. It was bad enough when Ron or Hermione got irritated with something he did, and he didn't have to feel their disappointment in such a personal way. He got up and looked over at Ron and Hermione (who had her head on the table), then turned back to Ginny.

"I'm ready to talk about it whenever you are."

He walked away and headed back over to the table with his other two best friends, pulling his Arithmancy book out and had just about started reading when Ron's voice sounded.

"You're fighting, aren't you?"

Harry looked up. "Who?"

"You and Ginny."

_Ron is a lot more observant than people give him credit for_, Harry decided. "Sort of. I don't even know what I did."

"Probably nothing. Hard to tell with her. You two are really close, aren't you?"

"I guess it's pretty obvious, isn't it?"

Surprisingly, Ron shook his head. "Not really - I mean, not the way I see it. You don't know how she was this summer. You're the only one she wants to be around."

That earned Ron a very hard look. "How would you know that?"

The redhead shrugged. "A lot of people think I don't care, but I've always looked out for Ginny ever since I was old enough. Or, I thought I did." The dark look that passed over Ron's face was so foreign, so strange that Harry was rendered speechless. Clearly something was bothering Ron, and it was much more than new friendships or being left out for a night at the library. Harry had just expected Ron to be the same old Ron when he came back to school, but apparently he was wrong. So very wrong.

"Wh...what do you mean by that?"

Ron's eyes met Harry's, and for once, the blue wasn't shining like sunlight off an ocean. "It's nothing - and do me a favor? Don't mention this conversation to Ginny." Without another word, Ron rose, picked up his things, and headed off up to the boys' dormitory. Harry was left to stare at his retreating back, wondering what in the world had happened to his best friend.

------

For lack of anything better to do, Harry worked on homework for the next hour or so. Next to him, he heard Hermione's soft, regular breathing that signaled her sleeping state, and ahead of him Ginny didn't move from beside the fire. Harry internally checked on her every so often, but she always felt the same. She was lost in thought, somewhere, and she was trying to work through something inside of herself. Though, he didn't need his feelings to tell him this - he could just tell by the way she was staring into the fire, the way she had her legs curled up under her, and the way her hands held the book her lap, as if she had no interest in it at all.

When Harry leaned over Hermione's bushy head to check her watch, Ron still hadn't come down. This was odd, since they started serving dinner in ten minutes. Harry rolled up his mostly completed Arithmancy homework and packed it away with his book in his bag, then sat back and pondered what had happened to his best friends. Ginny was probably the easiest to understand, even if he didn't get why. She was irritated at something, and she had to work through it before talking to him.

Hermione was probably second easiest - she was just dead tired - but why would she be that tired after only a week? She really hadn't done all that much more than he and Ron had - perhaps she'd spent a little more time in the library, but that was it. She did have all those extra classes (which Harry had no idea how she was getting to), but still, it wasn't like her to fall asleep on a table in the common room.

And then there was Ron. Harry had to confess to himself that he hadn't paid as much attention to his best mate since the school year started as he should have, but their last exchange had really thrown him for a loop. Ron was always cheerful and rarely ever was serious about anything - which was why Harry was so disturbed. Maybe he would get something out of him if they went flying tomorrow.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted by his stomach growling. Ginny looked up, a half-smile on her face as she closed her book and stretched. Merlin, it was good to see her smile. She'd had a serious expression on her face for the last hour straight, and Harry was starting to worry about her. Ginny was a lot like her brother, in that way - they were both always smiling. At least, that's what Harry had seen her.

"I guess you're ready to go down to dinner?" She sounded and felt relaxed, which made the hour of silence worth it to Harry. Whatever she'd needed, he was glad she'd had time to get it.

"Should we wake Hermione?"

Ginny shrugged, though there was a lot more behind it than met the eye. Harry nodded and left his bushy-haired friend alone, deciding that it was probably best to give Ginny some time to come around before having Hermione around all the time.

"I'm going to go see if Ron wants to come down. Be right back." Ginny nodded as he climbed up the stairs and found Ron laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, of all things.

"You want to come down for dinner?"

Ron looked surprised. "Is it time already?"

"Yeah."

"I suppose." The redhead rose and followed Harry back down the steps, and after picking up Ginny, the three of them headed down to dinner.

------

The rest of the night passed uneventfully - Ginny seemed to warm up to Harry and her irritation drained about whatever it was, but he couldn't figure out how to ask her about it. They'd brought back some dinner for Hermione, returning the favor she'd thought of for Ginny, but the brunette was nowhere to be found. Ginny took it up to the third-year dorms for her, but Hermione was already sleeping like a baby in her bed. The plate was left by her bedside just in case, but Harry knew she'd sleep right through the night - she'd looked borderline terrible when she'd come back to the common room.

Before going to bed, Ginny hinted heavily enough that she was looking forward to a good night's sleep that Harry didn't try to talk to her after they turned in, and the next morning he awoke feeling refreshed and alert. Ron had already gotten up and gone down to breakfast, judging by his empty bed, so Harry took his time in getting dressed and wandering down to the common room. He wasn't surprised to find Ginny waiting for him - somehow he'd known she would be sitting lazily in the love seat with sunlight from the windows blazing across her face.

"Morning, Ginny."

She turned a smile on him that would have given the sun competition in luminosity. He shouldn't have been surprised, given the joyfulness that seemed to be running through him from her. "Good morning, Harry."

He squeezed his eyes open and closed, as if to clear them, and shook his head as he sat down next to her. "Why are you in such a good mood?"

"No reason." She kicked her feet and bounced slightly in her chair, giving Harry a very uneasy feeling. Ginny being very happy about something usually meant someone was about to get pranked.

"What'd you do to Hermione?"

She wrinkled her nose. "Nothing, I swear!"

"I don't believe you. At all." And with good reason - her excitement had nearly bubbled over when he mentioned Hermione.

Ginny opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly her eyes widened and she snuggled into Harry, getting as close to his side as humanly possible (and then some) and wrapping one arm around his backside. It didn't take long for Harry to figure out the source of Ginny's hiding.

"Ginny Weasley!"

Hermione came storming across the common room, her hair looking as bushy as ever, and her face looking like it was about to explode. Harry tried to get out of the way, but Ginny would have none of it - she was already firmly wrapped around him.

"I suppose you think that's funny, do you?"

Ginny squeaked innocently. "Don't look at me!"

"Oh, I know it was you. Don't you play innocent on me. And Harry Potter, you better not be protecting her." She glowered down at Harry, who tried to put his hands up, but was only halfway successful - one of his arms was pinned to his side by Ginny's embrace.

"I didn't do anything!"

Hermione's glare studied him for a moment before turning back to Ginny. "Have you any idea how LONG that took to clean out?"

Ginny shook her head slowly. "Did you at least get a picture?"

Hermione's jaw dropped. It looked as though she was about to say more, but suddenly she turned on her heel and marched right back up the girls' staircase, muttering the whole way about immature little girls. This only served to heighten Ginny's amusement, who made no effort to let go of Harry.

"Er...Ginny? What did you do to her?"

Ginny mumbled something that would have been otherwise unintelligible, but Harry had the advantage of being mind-bonded to her.

"You turned it orange?!"

"It wasn't exactly orange...just think of my hair...on Hermione."

Harry bit his lip, hard, to keep from laughing. It didn't do anything to restrain his amusement through the bond (which gave Ginny plenty of satisfaction), but he couldn't let her get completely away with it.

"You've got to be nice to my friends, you know."

"I was being nice! You're not a Weasley until you wake up with red hair."

Harry couldn't argue that point, so he settled for squirming away from her and slipping out of her embrace. "You know you're going to have to tell Ron about this."

Ginny grinned broadly. "That's the best part - I'm going to tell him over breakfast, while Hermione's there. Come on, let's go!" She grabbed his hand and pulled. Harry allowed himself to be half dragged all the way down to breakfast, where they met Ron, who was already on his third helpings. He was sitting next to the twins, whose presence reminded Harry of something he meant to tell Ginny, but couldn't at the moment.

"Well, if it isn't Gin-Gin and Harrikins," Fred said as Harry and Ginny sat across from the twins and Ron.

"Have you just come from a conveniently located broom closet?" George waggled his eyebrows suggestively, which drew a look of disgust from Ron.

"No, but you'll be wanting to avoid Hermione this morning," Harry said darkly. Ron perked up at that.

"And why would we want to avoid such a beautiful young lady?" Fred asked. Harry jerked his thumb at Ginny as he helped himself to breakfast, and noticed Hermione come (quite calmly) into the Great Hall.

"Has our little sister finally taken up the family business here at Hogwarts?" George asked, much to Ginny's delight.

"You might say that." She smiled wickedly as Hermione sat down next to Ron. "Hermione knows what it's like to be a Weasley now."

The death glare that Hermione gave Ginny was nothing short of spectacular. Ron had to lean back to get out of the way, and the twins gazed at their sister in admiration.

"Tell us, dear sister, what have you done to upset the Queen of the Library?"

Harry tried to give Hermione an apologetic look, but she was too busy turning that death glare on the twins.

"Nothing spectacular," Ginny said nonchalantly. "She just knows a bit of what it's like to have the Weasley hair."

The three older Weasley brothers snorted into their breakfast, trying (and failing) to hold back their laughter. Ron, however, recovered long enough to lean over to Hermione to whisper something and prevented her from leaving the table entirely. Instead, she pointedly ignored anyone that wasn't Ron or Harry, and continued on with her breakfast as normal. Harry noticed Hermione shifting around in her robe pocket for a bit, but he didn't find out what that was about until nearly the end of breakfast, when he heard a distinct pop and the roar of the twins' laughter. His eyes turned to Ginny next to him and he burst out laughing as well - somehow, Ginny's perfectly straight and brushed hair had exploded into something he couldn't even begin to identify. It looked as though someone had taken each individual piece of her hair and pulled it straight out. He had to lean back to avoid getting a mouthful as he laughed.

"That's not funny," Ginny said, pulling out her wand and trying a counter-jinx. It didn't work. By now, most of the hall had begun to notice and point, which caused Hermione's smug smile to work its way through her previously innocent expression.

"Turnabout's fair game, Gin-Gin." Fred said.

"Don't dish out what you can't take," George added, leaning back and observing the globe of hair that was now Ginny's new hairstyle. Ginny was running through a list of counter-jinxes to no avail when Harry heard distinct footsteps behind him, and a voice he loathed.

"My, my, what do we have here?" Malfoy, of course. "Was Potter a little too rough for you last night?"

Ginny stopped trying to fix her hair and pointed her wand at the new arrival, regardless of the fact he was backed by the two biggest and most stupid boys in the entire school. "Jealous?"

Draco sniggered derisively. "Unlike you, Weaselette, I don't have to pay the bills."

Harry found himself on his feet and staring Malfoy down even before the Slytherin had finished his sentence. From somewhere behind Ginny, a male voice muttered something and Ginny's hair fell back into its normal position.

"I swear, Malfoy, one more crack about Ginny and you'll be wishing all you got was a new hairstyle."

Unfortunately, much of the imposing effect was lost when Draco stepped forward and made his couple inches of height difference apparent. "Don't think I've forgotten what you cost my family."

"Then tell your father to stay away from the Dark Arts."

Draco didn't seem to have an immediate reply to that, so he glanced toward the staff table and noticed Professor Lupin coming down the aisle.

"Consider yourself lucky you have your fan club around to save you." The blonde left with a slight billow in his robes, something he no doubt picked up from his Head of House. Harry glared off after him until Professor Lupin approached with an easy smile.

"Problems, here, Harry?"

Harry spent one more moment glaring at Draco's retreating back, then softened his look for the teacher. "No, Professor. Nothing at all." He turned to sit back down, but Lupin put a hand on his shoulder.

"They're not worth it. Just ignore him and keep out of trouble." With that, Lupin moved and left Harry rooted to the spot. He finally turned and sat, to find a much different mood at the table than before Malfoy's little visit.

"What d'you think he meant by that, Harry?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. "I don't know. And he acts like he knows me - he knew my name on the train even before I'd said a word to him."

The rest of the meal was finished in relative quiet, though Ginny was heard complimenting Hermione on her quick jinx work. Harry didn't know who counter-jinxed it, but given the prospects, he bet it was one of the twins. They seemed to have experience in things like that.

------

"Hey Ron, you want to go flying?"

It was nearing one in the afternoon, and Hermione had insisted on going to the library to study, so Harry, Ginny, and Ron had been in the common room passing the time by lounging around in the armchairs and talking about nothing. Ginny was currently off with her roommates doing something or another, Harry hadn't bothered to listen to what, so this seemed like a good time.

"Can I have a go on the Nimbus?" The redhead asked hopefully.

"Sure." Harry smiled and rose, finding that by the time he was to the bottom of the stairs, Ron was at the top and nearly barreling into the third-years' dormitory. Harry fished his broom out of his trunk and let Ron carry it down to the pitch, which was blissfully empty. The weather was nice for flying, not too hot with a light breeze that ruffled Harry's hair gently as he entered the stadium. He even let Ron have first go on the Nimbus, instead pulling a school broom out of the shed and pretending to try to keep up. It was liberating, getting up in the air - Harry had forgotten how good it felt. It seemed the problems of last night were years ago, and now all he had to worry about was avoiding the big scoreboard and accounting for the more than slight list on the old broom. The wind in his face was refreshing, and Ron's whoops of delight were worth more than a sack stuffed full of galleons. After a while, Ron slowed and landed in the middle of the pitch, offering Harry's broom back to him. He gladly traded, and jumped off the ground to relish the superior control and speed for just a few minutes.

Eventually he circled back to find Ron in the air and matched speeds with the pair of them flying a slow lap around the pitch.

"What did you mean when you said you'd always looked out for Ginny?" Harry figured that blunt was the best way to deal with Ron, and also the best way to keep him from deflecting the question.

"I said let it go, Harry. I don't want to talk about it."

Harry sighed. "I'm not going to let it go, so you might as well come out with it."

The redhead was silent for a while, and even leaned forward as if thinking about making a break for it, but Harry was on a clearly superior broom. Finally, Ron turned to Harry with a hardness to his eyes that he'd never seen before.

"Do you know what it's like to have your little sister possessed by You-Know-Who for a whole year, and you didn't even notice?"

Harry shook his head. He couldn't. "I didn't notice either, Ron."

Ron turned back forward, putting on a little more speed and forcing Harry to match him. "It's okay for you - she's just your best mate's sister. You're not supposed to notice her. I don't have that excuse - we've been close ever since she was born. The wizarding world is different than your muggle world, a lot different. There aren't huge schools for little kids to meet bunches of friends at, and after the twins went off to Hogwarts, it was just Ginny and I around the house for ages. I always looked after her, you know? But then, it was like everything changed when we came to Hogwarts. She was taken over by a bloody diary and opened the Chamber of Secrets, and I didn't have a clue! How bloody pathetic is that!"

As he said the last little bit of his speech, Ron's voice had risen so that Harry had no problems hearing him over the growing wind, and had changed enough for Harry to know Ron was being dead serious.

"We all missed it, Ron. You shouldn't blame yourself."

When Ron's eyes turned back to him, they were filled with a wildness that, quite frankly, scared him. "It doesn't matter whose fault it is, Harry. I wasn't there for her. I forgot all about my family now that I was away from home, and Ginny felt alone enough to write to a talking diary! How can that not be my fault?!"

Harry didn't have much to say to that. It sounded exactly like something he himself would say, and given that, he could see the logic in it. But it still wasn't healthy for Ron to keep blaming himself like this, to keep bottling things up.

"She's all right now, and we saved her from Voldemort. You were there for her when it really mattered."

"No, you were there for her." Ron countered. "The only thing I was doing was shoveling rocks."

"You kept Lockhart from Obliviating us."

For the first time, Ron slowed and smiled without humor. "Only because I was stupid enough to break my wand by flying a car into the Whomping Willow."

"I was that stupid too."

Ron sighed and ran a sleeve over his eyes - if Harry didn't know better, he would have said there were tears in them. But that wasn't like Ron, was it?

"You know what the worst part was? You were the only one worried for her afterwards. She seemed fine to me, and I know Hermione told you all the time just to give her space and leave her alone. But she was different this summer - it was like she couldn't stand being with any of us too long. I thought she just didn't want to be around anyone, but she seems to spend an awful lot of time with you."

Harry thought about explaining that, right then and there, but he held his tongue. Ron knowing about his and Ginny's connection would generate a lot more problems than it would solve. "You should talk to her. I'm sure she'll listen, if you show her you're really interested. She probably just feels guilty."

"Guilty for what?"

Harry wondered how much he could know without alerting Ron to something suspicious, and for that matter, how much would Ginny want him talking to her brother.

"I don't know. If you want to know, just ask her."

"Why would she listen to me? She's got you."

And there was the heart of the matter, Harry realized. Ron had always been wary of Harry's limelight, especially last year with Lockhart hanging around, and he'd always been pushed into the shadows where Harry shined. Ron might (justifiably, even) think Harry was trying to steal his sister.

"Trust me, she doesn't like me that much. I'm not her brother."

Ron couldn't argue with that, and given their conversations before, wasn't about to argue the romantic standpoint either. "I don't know, it just feels like there's a lot going on between you two that I don't know about."

Harry sighed. "You can't be there every single second. She can take care of herself."

"I should be able to."

Harry didn't respond to that, and after a few more laps around the pitch in silence, Ron began to descend back to the grass. Harry followed slowly, turning over their conversation in his head and wondering how Ron had gotten so out of hand. He thought he'd had his best mate pegged, but it turned out there was a lot more to him than met the eyes. He was sure that no one else saw this side of Ron, except perhaps Ginny, and if she had, she hadn't said anything to Harry. She's always hinted that Ron was her favorite brother, but when Harry asked, she said she wasn't going to show favoritism.

The duo headed back to the castle in silence, noting that a few others were going out to the pitch for a fly behind them. Nothing more was said about Ginny, or anything serious for that matter. It wasn't even until they got halfway to Gryffindor Tower that Ron brought up the Arithmancy essay he hadn't started yet, and Harry offered to let him borrow his once he got done with it. At least there was still something normal in Harry's upside down world.

------

When the two got back to the common room, Harry found Ginny waiting for him. It wasn't obvious, of course, but the way her eyes locked on him the moment he came through the portrait hole was enough, and she put down her book. Harry glanced at Ron before walking over to where Ginny was sitting and taking the seat across from her and questioning her with his eyes.

"Can we go for a walk?"

Harry sensed it was more of a suggestion than a question. "Sure." He stood up again, this time with Ginny, and after a curious look from Ron, the two headed out of the portrait hole. Both of them were silent for a while, but Harry did notice Ginny was leading him in the direction of the library. It was probably the longest route possible to get there, and they were going at a slow, leisurely pace, but it was still a destination.

"I'm sorry."

Harry turned his eyes toward her. "About what?"

"About last night. I shouldn't have gotten irritated at you."

Harry shook his head. "Don't worry about it, really."

They took a few more steps, and Harry couldn't help but notice that Ginny's eyes never left her feet. "I suppose we'll always have to do this, you know. Explain our feelings to each other."

Harry hadn't really thought about it that way - he tried not to think about what their bond would mean long term. Those thoughts generally lead to thoughts of Ginny's safety, and that only depressed him. If one thing had stuck in his head from the summer, it was that someone was always trying to kill him, and now with things the way they were, Ginny would be heavily involved no matter what he tried to do about it.

"You don't always have to, if you don't want to. I left you alone last night."

"It bothered you."

Harry couldn't deny that. "But I did it. I am more than my feelings, you know."

For the first time, Ginny looked up at him with a small smile. "You really are smarter than people give you credit for."

"I have my moments."

Their footsteps echoed softly off the castle walls as they walked and Harry gave Ginny time to bring up whatever she wanted to talk about. He sensed there were a lot of things she wanted to discuss while they were alone, and her altered path to take them away from the library only supported him. He sensed that's eventually where she wanted to wind up, but she also wanted to talk about quite a bit.

"Doesn't this bother you?"

"What bother me?"

"Being old."

That was an odd statement, and Harry had to take a moment to process it. "I never really noticed." That was a bit of a lie - Ginny had aged decades since the diary - but he figured now wasn't the time to bring that up.

"I guess you wouldn't. You've always been able to handle things." She accompanied this with a warm smile, and Harry felt a strange emotion through their bond. It was a like admiration, but it was more than that - it was smeared with affection and caring and even had a little dash of protectiveness.

"I'm sorry if I'm forcing you to grow up too fast."

Ginny groaned. "Harry, don't apologize. If anything, blame Tom for that."

They walked a little longer, passing a few portraits that Harry could have sworn were spying on him. To that point, he waited till they were in a hallway without any paintings before continuing the conversation.

"I hate him."

"I do too."

"He's not taking you from me."

Ginny cocked her head, causing her hair fell in wisps across her face. "What do you mean?"

Harry sighed and put his face in his hands. He'd never really talked about this with anyone, and never really planned to. It just kind of came out with Ginny. Things had a habit of doing that when he was around her - he really didn't want to keep anything from her, and he trusted her with his life.

"He's taken away or tried to take away everything that was important to me. I don't want him to take you too."

There was that feeling again, the one he couldn't find a word for. He could tell Ginny was trying to cover it up, but it came through anyway.

"You don't have to do that. I'm not going to be angry with your for feeling something."

Ginny's face went from concerned to guilty as fast as you could say embarrassed. "I'm sorry...I just know you don't feel the same way about me. I...I actually believe you now, when you say you don't like me that way."

Harry stopped in the middle of the hallway, confused. "What do you mean?"

Ginny ran a hand through her hair, pulling it back out of her face and behind her shoulders. "Harry, what you're feeling is my attraction to you. You don't know how hard it is for me to admit that, but you are. And I know you'll never feel the same way toward me."

He stood there, stunned. Was that what love felt like? Surely not - Ginny was twelve years old. He'd always learned that love was something for older people, something that people like Mr. and Mrs. Weasley shared, not some twelve year old girl and her best friend.

"It feels good."

Ginny smiled. "Of course it does...I just don't want you to feel like you have to feel the same way about me."

"I do care about you."

She stepped over to him and took his hands in hers, meeting his eyes with her own. "I know you do, and that makes it all right. We can't choose who we are attracted to. I can't stop being attracted to you any more than you can start being attracted to me in that way."

Harry pulled his hands from hers and continued walking, despite the slight sense of loss that he knew Ginny felt. "I want to feel that way, I really do. I want to make you happy, but I just can't. Not with people out to kill me."

Ginny matched his stride and purposefully brushed her arm against his. Harry knew it was intentional, but he didn't mind so much - Ginny was now on the very short list of people that didn't cause him to jump away when they touched him. In fact, she was the only one on the list.

"I don't care if people are out to kill you," Ginny whispered. Harry didn't respond to that, he only took them back toward the library at a slightly quicker pace, hoping Ginny wouldn't notice. That lasted for about thirty seconds.

"Harry, stop it." She grabbed his arm and held him, forcing him to halt once again in an empty corridor. "Running from your problems isn't going to help you."

Something snapped. "I'm not running!"

The look on her face was so maddening, and yet so comforting that Harry wanted to explode. It was both reprimanding and sympathetic in the same moment, and Harry didn't know whether he wanted to run away or thank her.

"Then don't try to run away from me. This is what I mean about being old."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Who else do you know that has to deal with things like this?"

She had a good point, as much as Harry didn't want to admit she was right. His stubborn side was kicking in, and he didn't want to lose to Ginny, no matter how much sense she made.

"I don't want to be old Ginny. I just want to be normal."

Again with the surge of affection and what Ginny called attraction. This time, it did make Harry uncomfortable, and by the way Ginny took a step away from him, she could feel his discomfort as well.

"Mum always says that we have to take what life gives us and not wish for something it didn't."

Harry locked her with a gaze that spoke volumes about his internal demons. "What is there to like about what life has given me?"

Ginny blinked, and suddenly they both felt tears in her eyes. "Us, Harry? Don't you care about us?"

Merlin, that hadn't come out the way he'd wanted it to, and now he had to figure out a way to fix it. The only thing that came to mind immediately was a place he did not want to go, and yet, it would be the best way to reassure her. So Harry took two steps and wrapped his arms around the small redhead in front of him, holding her close to his body and whispering in her ear like he'd seen Petunia do to Dudley whenever he threw a tantrum.

"Of course I care about us, Ginny." He didn't know what else to say, but judging by the way she wrapped around him, and let her tears leak out onto his shoulder, he didn't need to say anything else. They stood there for a long while, locked together even as Harry's mind started to become irritated at the contact. For the first time in a long while, he could feel the beast in his chest purring contentedly, and that was enough to block out his rational thought that he needed to break contact as fast as possible.

------

Some fifteen or twenty minutes later, the two broke apart and Ginny wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "I'm sorry that I keep doing that."

Harry shook his head. "It's all right, Ginny. I'm glad I can be there for you."

"I'm glad you're here too." She gave him a fleeting glance of something (thankfulness?), then continued onward in the hallway. Her eyes were a little red and she still looked a little down, but Harry could tell that the worst of it was over and she just wanted to move on. To that point, Harry changed the subject entirely.

"What did Dumbledore want yesterday?"

Ginny looked up, as if surprised by the question, then shrugged. "I really don't know. He said it was because of Tom and everything, but I don't really believe him. He told me the phoenix feather from my wand came from a special phoenix that was bonded to his phoenix."

Harry's mind screeched to a halt at the implications of that. "He...he said that?"

Ginny nodded. "He said that you, Voldemort, and I are bonded in a way that even he doesn't know about."

Harry was silent for a long few minutes after that revelation. He'd come to the same conclusions that Ginny had - bonds took on a whole meaning with they way he and Ginny were connected. He already knew his scar connected him to Voldemort, but what did that mean for Ginny? Could Voldemort get inside her head too?

"He's not bonded to us like we are. I would know if he was."

Ginny shook her head. "That doesn't mean he can't become that way."

"No, he can't." Harry's voice became hard and stubborn. "The only reason we were bonded was because we cared about each other."

However much Harry didn't know about the circumstances of their bond, his confidence cheered Ginny up a little bit. "I hope you're right."

"So Dumbledore didn't say anything about me?"

Ginny shook her head. "It was weird, I thought he'd ask about us passing out together, but he didn't say anything. Maybe that's what he was looking around in my mind for."

Harry had to admit that was a possibility. If Dumbledore had been using Legilimency on him since they'd met, it would explain a whole lot of things about how the Headmaster knew things he probably shouldn't.

"We're not telling him anything about the bond still, right?"

Ginny nodded. "Hermione is bad enough."

"Hermione just wants to help, you know that, right?"

Ginny said nothing, though her feelings toward the bushy-haired witch were quite clear through the bond. It was just a matter of trust - she hadn't spent as much time or been through nearly as much with Hermione as Harry had, and given Hermione's reputation, there really wasn't any reason for Ginny to believe her when she said she wasn't going to tell anyone. Harry knew differently, of course, but there was no way to convince Ginny of that.

"Do you mind her asking us about the bond?"

Again, Ginny was silent, but she didn't have to say anything.

"It would be nice for her to do the research for us."

Ginny nodded, but looked up at Harry with eyes and feelings that spoke of fear. "I just don't like having anyone so close to this. This is our special thing. Not hers."

They were nearing the library door, and Harry knew that Hermione would be inside, so he knew they had to finish this conversation fast. "Of course it is. We will always be special, no matter what anyone knows. They can't take this away from us."

"What if they can?"

"They won't. I won't let them."

As hollow as that promise was, Ginny smiled and her mood lightened. Just the fact that Harry cared enough to say something like that was enough for her - maybe Hermione asking a few questions wouldn't be so bad after all.

------

"You know Legilimency is illegal, right?"

Hermione had about ten books spread in front of her, and none of them had anything to do with her classwork. Given the dark circles under her eyes, Harry was a little worried that she should be resting or doing something productive with her time, but he'd learned a long time ago not to chastise Hermione about time management.

"It is?" Ginny asked, throwing a glance at Harry.

Hermione nodded. "From the punishments and court cases that I've seen, it's treated a lot like rape."

Both Harry and Ginny shuddered. "Then why is Dumbledore doing it?" Harry asked.

Hermione shook her head. "Because he's Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards. There's a list of people who can do it legally, and he's one of them. But I'm not sure if he's allowed to do it on minors though - the law was really unclear about it. Between two consenting adults it's legal, but other than that, you can get an Azkaban sentence for it, and doing it on a minor is really bad."

Ginny sucked in a breath, and from what Harry had heard over the summer, that sounded like a serious punishment. Especially after his encounter with a dementor.

"I'm going to Dumbledore right now about Snape," Ginny announced, but before she could march off, Hermione interrupted her.

"You can't."

"And why not?"

"I suppose you can, if you want to tell him you're an Occlumens."

Ginny growled softly, but she didn't make any move toward the door. Hermione had a good point, and Harry could tell it was killing Ginny to admit it. Instead, the redhead sat down and looked over the books that were scattered across the table as Harry found a seat next to her.

"So what did you find?" Harry asked.

Hermione looked up and Harry could tell she was frustrated. "Absolutely nothing. The only thing useful I've found is that Occlumency book you gave me, and all that does is put me to sleep."

Harry looked quickly around for people who might be listening, but there appeared to be none. "You look like you could use a bit of sleep, actually."

"I'm fine, thank you," Hermione retorted, turning back to her books. "I don't think there's a recorded instance of a mental connection like yours anywhere."

The next few moments were spent in silence, then Hermione looked up again. "I did look at dementors, though, and I think I can explain that. Dementors pull at the emotions of their target, weakening the protections that keep people's feelings their own and sucking out the happy feelings. Since you two were already bonded, that weakening just allowed you to start feeling each other's feelings instead of just having telepathy."

Harry glanced at Ginny. _Told you she could help. _He got a pair of rolled eyes in return.

"You're talking again, aren't you?"

Harry had the grace to flush pink. "Yeah...sorry."

She looked between the two uncomfortably, then went back to her reading. Harry was about to say something when, surprisingly, Ginny was faster.

"Hermione, you really should take a break. You look terrible."

"I haven't the time."

Ginny shook her head. "You're not going to get anything done if you wind up in the Hospital Wing from exhaustion."

Hermione looked up, obviously annoyed. "I think I can handle myself, thank you very much."

Harry put a hand on Ginny's arm without thinking. "Ginny's just trying to help, Hermione. We're worried about you."

Hermione rubbed her face in her hands and let out a frustrated moan. "You both are? Are you even separate people anymore?"

"Of course we are!" Harry replied, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. Hermione recoiled from the force of his voice, and even Ginny looked a little surprised. "Just because we're close doesn't mean we aren't separate people."

Hermione closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, looking more and more stressed. "I'm sorry...I...I'm just a little overworked right now, getting used to classes and all."

"Maybe you should leave what's going on between us alone until you find time, then?" Ginny suggested, but Hermione was already shaking her head.

"You don't understand how important this is. There hasn't been one single documented bond like yours in any book I've ever read. It's only been mentioned as a possibility - no one has ever been able to develop one. This might be more important than any class I'll ever take this year."

The weight of that statement hit Harry like an anvil. Hermione never admitted that something was more important than schoolwork - the only time she'd even come close was defending the Philosopher's Stone from being stolen, and even then she'd never outright said it.

"Just...don't overwork yourself, all right?"

Hermione sighed, as if giving up. "I'll try, Harry, but I have a lot of things to do and not nearly enough time."

Harry and Ginny were content to leave it at that, and they even helped Hermione look through a few books on mental magic. It turned out that Hermione was loads better at finding things than Ginny, and she'd turned up a few very advanced charms that allowed a short-term mental connection, but nothing of the caliber than Harry and Ginny shared, and nothing that was near as permanent or unblockable. Hermione made another good point - with all the wards and protections and magic around Hogwarts, something should have disrupted their connection for even a bit, but neither of them had felt anything. If anything, proximity to all the magic had only strengthened their bond, not weakened it.

Sometime later, Harry and Ginny finally convinced Hermione to pack it up and leave the library behind, after which they met Ron in the common room and had a bit of relaxing time as the four of them. Harry decided they needed to do things like this more often, as the four of them - he didn't want to have to separate his friends into groups that he had to balance the time between. He supposed the first thing to do was somehow get Hermione and Ginny on better terms, and if the library was any indication, Ginny was at least willing to try. Hermione might be a little more stubborn about it, but Harry hoped that eventually she'd come around.

------

**_A/N:_**_ Well, I found a box of inspiration somewhere, and this chapter was somehow written really fast. I'm sure you all aren't complaining. Anyway, I've finally got around to creating a google group (linky in profile) so that it's easy to post about updates to all my readers in one place, as well as have a place for extended discussion. Should you have questions or comments that can't be addressed in clumsy review/response system, feel free to head on over there and I'll be happy to answer as best I can. Not going to give away plot points though!_

_Oh, and don't forget to review!  
_


	7. Mind Games

**7: Mind Games**

Sunday was always homework day. That's just how things were -- Harry, Hermione, and Ron knew it, and it only took Ginny fifteen minutes after breakfast to discover the solidity of this unwritten rule that had been established by the end of November of the trio's first year at Hogwarts. It was homework day because even Ron found the need to get things done, because there usually wasn't Quidditch practice (meaning Ron had Harry was around to complain to), and because it was the last time that any of the three of them could get significant amounts of work done before the week started. This was why post--breakfast Sunday morning sun found the Weasley-Potter-Granger quartet in the Gryffindor common room hunched over a table full of text books, with Hermione looking a little smug. Sunday was, after all, her day to throw the boys' study habits back up in their faces.

Though this year she didn't have much to complain about in terms of Harry; at least, not yet. He was writing the conclusion to his Arithmancy essay, and he still had a Potions essay to do, but other than that he'd finished all of his assigned written work. The practical assignments were still up for debate on whether he'd achieved proficiency with the spells assigned, but there was never any problem getting anyone to practice their spellcasting. If there was one thing that almost every student in the school could agree on, it was love for magic.

Harry spent most of the morning finishing up his own homework ("Hey Harry, can I have a look at your Arithmancy essay?" asked Ron), but like Ginny, he didn't have much to do in the afternoon. Instead, he picked up his Ancient Runes book and flipped to the chapter on basic ward construction, which left him with a bad headache a half hour later. Hermione was right -- he hadn't done any research on the subject, which made him feel woefully unprepared for the complexity of what he needed to learn, even if he was trying to understand something he shouldn't need to know for another few months. He had looked at a few books in the library on wards, but they'd looked as though they'd been written in a different language, so he'd just settled for _Ancient Runes Made Easy _and hoped for the best.

Interestingly enough, Harry learned almost immediately that Runes were used as key components in the anchors for ward enchantments, though he had no idea what an anchor was. After a bit of further reading, he discovered that the enchantments had to be cast with something solid to bind them to the warded area, and the simplest way to reinforce the wards was to inscribe magical runes into the anchors. The book didn't go into the actual spell side of the wards (what little it did, Harry didn't get anyway), but the runes side came like second nature. Different combinations of runes placed on the anchors would produce different effects (combined with the ward spells), and done properly, the anchor could be placed inside the ward to keep it from being destroyed.

There were enough references to Arithmancy to make Harry understand why Bill had recommended the class, but it didn't make him feel any better about it. Unlike Runes, where the translations were easy, there was something about the numbers that just didn't make sense. Hermione explained that math extremely difficult to most people at first and that it wasn't unusual for him to not understand without a lot of extra studying, but even her assurances that it would come easier once he had the basics didn't help much -- especially after realizing he would be using it constantly if he ever wanted to learn anything about wards.

Ginny also served to irritate him in that she didn't have a single problem with anything she was supposed to be learning. She described it like Harry had described his affinity with Runes -- she didn't have the knowledge before she read it or one of the professors talked about it, but once she'd been introduced it was like common sense. Harry found the similarity to his Ancient Runes class unnerving, but Ginny assured him that she'd never learned anything about runes before and the two had to be unrelated, but it still started him down the path of wondering where he got his runes skills from. His mind wandered to his ability to speak Parseltongue and how easily that language had come to him, but he didn't mention that to Ginny.

Hermione seemed to have a never ending pile of homework, so Harry, Ginny, and Ron found themselves in the common room late into the night keeping their friend company. It was an unspoken agreement between the three that they wouldn't let her push people away just because she had "a bit of work to do", so it wound up that they stayed at their table long after each of them had finished their respective assignments. Harry and Ginny talked quietly about Arithmancy, Runes, and wards (Harry took a slight pleasure in Ginny's equal confusion when it came to Arithmancy), while Ron drew up Quidditch plays. Even Harry raised an eyebrow at his best mate's choice of activity, but when Ron seemed loathe to comment on it, Ginny said he'd been doing it ever since he was old enough to hold a quill. Ron looked slightly annoyed when Ginny said she knew exactly where he kept his (supposedly) secret piles of parchment filled with Quidditch diagrams, but it was hard for him to deny when even Hermione was impressed with the mark--up systems he used to organize the plans.

The next three days passed without much fanfare, though Harry and Hermione had to sit down once again and go over their Arithmancy notes in great detail. Harry was surprised at how much Hermione enjoyed doing this -- it was a bother to him because he would rather just get it on his own, but for some reason she loved their hour and a half long study session the Monday before dinner. With a little prodding from Ginny, Harry told Hermione that he would appreciate it if they could do it every Monday. Hermione responded with one of the biggest smiles Harry had ever seen from her.

It wasn't until Thursday morning that Harry realized he'd been dreading something all week -- Potions. He'd thought about it briefly on Sunday when he'd done the assigned essay, but other than that it hadn't crossed his mind. Neville had been quite happy to give him the subject of the assignment (in exchange for a little help) since Harry didn't fancy going to ask Snape about it. After completing the essay, he'd been able to avoid thinking about how horrible the next double Potions period would be until breakfast Thursday morning.

"Er...Hermione?"

Ron looked a little too engrossed in his food to answer anything, so Harry decided that she would be the better one to ask.

"Hmmm?"

"What happened to Snape after I passed out last week?"

She gave him a funny look for a moment, then comprehension dawned in her eyes. Ginny leaned in a little closer, interested in the answer as well.

"It was really weird -- he sort of tripped, and nearly fell into one of the Slytherins' cauldrons," Hermione said as she glanced at Ron uneasily. "I don't know why he would have done that though. I'm not sure what happened later -- he yelled for Ron and I to take you to the Hospital Wing. He looked really angry."

Harry nodded. So when the wave of anger had overtaken him and struck out at Snape, it had pushed the professor from his mind and hurt him. Now that Harry knew what he was doing, it might be possible to just keep everything from Snape without having to pass out -- hopefully he'd be able to get control of his anger and keep everything under wraps like Ginny had with Dumbledore.

_It'll be all right; I don't think he'll try again._

Ginny's voice was a welcome presence in his mind, one that had been there less over the past few days. Harry assumed they were talking verbally more and didn't have a need to converse mentally, since it was easier to do so now that most of the school (including Malfoy, unfortunately) knew they were close friends.

_I know. I'm just not looking forward to it._

Harry felt her hand grip his under the table, and though it didn't bring him any comfort, it wasn't something he felt like he wanted to draw away from. Ginny hadn't said much about it, but he suspected that she was trying to get him over his phobia of physical contact, and he was grateful for it, even if it only helped him be in contact with her. Regardless of how he might want things, he couldn't go through life without touching anyone and it wouldn't do to jump out of his skin every time it happened. The look on Hermione's face when she'd reached out to him in the Hospital Wing a week ago was still quite vivid in his mind.

Someone kicked his shin under the table, causing him to look up and find Hermione glancing between him and Ginny with a reproachful look. He knew what that look meant -- she was giving it to them at least once or twice a day now. It was a look that told himself and Ginny that they were doing something that wasn't normal for best friends, like staring at each other for no apparent reason, or eating the exact same things and taking drinks from their goblets in unison. Harry hadn't noticed it before, but when Hermione pointed it out, it was disconcerting how many times he and Ginny mirrored each others' actions without even realizing it.

"We better start down toward the dungeons," Hermione said a few minutes later, with an elbow to grab Ron's attention. "We don't want to be late, especially after missing a lot of class last week."

"Wouldn't that be a tragedy..." Ron replied, but he stood and followed Hermione and Harry out of the Great Hall without further complaint. Harry tried to throw one last look at Ginny to comfort her, but it did nothing to relieve that pang of sadness she always felt at being left behind by the third year trio.

------

The beginning of Potions was not like anything Harry could have expected. For once, Snape didn't harass any Gryffindors upon entering, and for once (or possibly the second time, given last week's class), he simply put the instructions on the board and ignored the students. Hermione was working with Neville at the table in front of Harry and Ron, but Harry didn't miss the concerned glance that the bushy--haired witch threw him a couple minutes into class. The Potions master disappeared completely into his office for a few minutes, but instead of making Harry feel any better, a sense of unease settled over the entire dungeon.

_What's wrong Harry?_

She must have been on alert, given the class he was about to go into, because he wasn't feeling that strongly about anything. _Nothing, why?_

_You're really tense._

Harry sighed as he concentrated on stirring the cauldron and trying to relax. _Snape's gone into his office and I don't know what he's doing. He's never left us alone before._

Ginny was silent after that, causing him to hope she'd gone back to her classwork. For a blissful few minutes, Harry was able to work with Ron on a potion that didn't look all that much different from Hermione's, and he was encouraged that he might actually get a passing mark for the day. He'd just begun the sixth line of instructions when Snape returned to the dungeon, striding with apparent purpose toward the Gryffindors' work tables.

"Five points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger. This is not a group project, there is no need to be whispering instructions to Mr. Longbottom." Hermione turned pink and focused back on her own cauldron, but that didn't keep Snape from turning his malicious gaze in Harry's direction. Suddenly, the special sneer of loathing that Harry had become accustomed to found its way back on to Snape's face, and a wave of hatred passed through Harry's blood as the Potions master turned to his cauldron. "What have we here, Mr. Potter? Would you care to read step number four from the board?"

Harry turned his eyes toward the lines, but as soon as he made out the compact, organized instruction, his vision began to waver between the real world and his subconscious. He felt something push into his mind, and though he needed no visual confirmation, there was no mistaking the billowing black cloak or the intense wave of malice as Snape crashed through the doorway to his mind. This time, he seemed to be moving with more purpose and less confusion, prompting Harry to pull Ginny's ball to himself protectively as he attempted and failed to keep his sight in the real world. As Snape grew closer to the bluebell flame that represented Harry's knowledge of Professor Lupin, Harry reminded himself to keep his anger in check as he pulled the flames away from Snape, hoping this time he wouldn't be overtaken by his feelings and faint in front of the class once again. He ran through his Occlumency exercises designed to calm the mind, but nothing could prevent the tidal wave of fear from washing through him as Snape's eyes gazed around the room and finally found their target. Harry backpedaled and nearly tripped over his trunk and onto the bed, making sure to keep a strong hold on his thoughts as he crawled backwards till his back was against the headboard.

Snape seemed to contemplate for a moment, as if he couldn't quite wrap his mind around something, but too soon he shook his head and strode toward Harry with a purpose. The raven--haired wizard was nearly paralyzed with fear as Snape approached, and he could tell that Snape's gaze was locked on his hands, or rather, what was in them. Just as Harry was about to lash out with ever ounce of fear and anger he had, the Potions master hissed and pain and jerked his eyes down to his own leg as he disappeared from Harry's mind. Harry immediately regained his real world vision and found that somehow, Ron's cauldron had been dumped over and his scalding hot potion covered Snape's left leg from the knee down. Harry was already sweating profusely and pressed back farther in his chair as Snape pulled his wand out of his pocket and ran massive amounts of water over his leg before glaring at Ron with pure hatred.

"Thirty points from Gryffindor and detention for your carelessness, Weasley."

Snape turned on his heel and with a swish of his robes, headed toward the front of the class, muttering to himself as he went. Harry felt Ron's eyes on him as he recovered, but for the moment he was unable to move.

"You all right, mate?"

Harry nodded. He didn't trust his voice to speak at the moment, and he began to feel the waves of concern coming through his bond with Ginny. If he'd had the presence of mind, he would have been surprised that she didn't try to talk to him earlier, but she could have been absorbed in a practical lesson that took her attention away from him. It was all he could do just to speak one thought to her.

_Ginny -- I'm all right -- just can't talk._

She seemed to accept this and bathed him with warmth and affection, which went a long way toward slowing his frantic heart and soothing at least a small portion of the tension that had him sitting perfectly rigid in his seat. By now, the other Gryffindors (including Hermione) were stealing concerned glances at him whenever they could, but none of them were stupid enough to say anything in front of Snape. Slowly, Harry willed his arms into motion and began working on his potion again, trying to pretend nothing had happened and failing miserably. His hands were shaking almost too much to properly hold a knife, and there were too many waves in his potion to be coming from anything resembling a smooth stirring.

------

How he got through the rest of a double period of Potions was a mystery, but Harry couldn't have been happier to pack up and leave the bitter chill of the dungeons. Mercifully, no one said anything until they slipped through the portrait hole into Gryffindor Tower, after which the trio split off from their fellow classmates and headed toward a back corner of the common room. Hermione immediately pulled out her Defense Against the Dark Arts book and stuck her nose in it. Harry collapsed into a chair across from her, finally able to relax as Ron sat next to him.

"Can't you give it a rest, Hermione? You're going to go cross--eyed if you read much more," Ron said after dumping his books under the table. It earned him an irritated look.

"I don't have time to do anything else, Ron," Hermione replied. She tried to sound indignant, but Harry could tell her heart just wasn't in it. Not for the first time this week, he wondered if she was cracking already under the course load she'd given herself. It wasn't just dealing with it -- it was the bar she set for herself. Harry knew she was still top of her class in everything, even though she was taking at least two more courses than everyone else and doing research on his and Ginny's connection. So far that hadn't turned up much, but she was still trying and she was still compiling her own thoughts on it. She hadn't said anything or complained, but Harry could tell it was really bothering her that she had to memorize everything and couldn't write her thoughts out.

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a familiar presence enter the common room, one that projected comfort and peace. He knew it wasn't how she normally felt, and he knew that she was doing it for him, but it didn't make him any less grateful for it. They'd discovered that in the past few days they could feel each other's location and have a stronger emotional connection when they were within approximately twenty meters of each other. The circle was expanding every day -- it had begun at breakfast just as Harry was about to sit down next to her, and now it was no longer a problem to find Ginny in the Great Hall during meal times. Even if her hair didn't mark her, Harry could always feel the exact location of where she was sitting, and for some reason he was instinctively drawn toward it. He'd talked about it with her one night, and she'd admitted to having the same sort of feelings. It had been a bit of an awkward moment, admitting that they were drawn to each other for no apparent reason, but they'd gotten past it.

"Are you all right Harry?" Ginny dumped her bag next to Ron's, but her eyes were locked on Harry the whole way to her seat. Ron shifted uncomfortably in his seat and Hermione looked up from her book, but neither said anything -- they'd been pointedly ignoring the subject since the class had let out.

"I'm fine."

_You look like a ghost. You should go see Madam Pomfrey._

Irritation flashed through his system. _I'm not going to go up to the Hospital Wing after every Potions class._

_I'm going to go talk to Dumbledore if he doesn't stop..._

_No! I'm fine Ginny. Just drop it._

"So how was Defense today, Ginny?" Hermione cut in sharply, giving the redhead a pointed look. Ginny seemed to be caught off balance by the question, and Harry couldn't have been happier for the interruption. He'd felt her stubbornness kick in, and he really didn't want to have an argument with her at the moment.

"It was all right. He's having to teach all the first year stuff to us again because all Lockhart did was talk about his own books."

Hermione went back to her reading, though her cheeks turned slightly pink and Ginny's lips curled into an amused smirk. Hermione's infatuation with their last Defense Professor was a bit of a standing joke between the trio, and Harry had made enough references to it over the summer that Ginny had gotten the idea. Harry saw Ron's eyes bouncing between the two girls, and he privately thanked Hermione for her intervention -- it could have easily been himself and Ginny that Ron was looking at confusedly.

The quartet spent about an hour in the common room before going down to lunch, and then heading off to their afternoon classes. Harry enjoyed the lesson on Red Caps, and it was a nice contrast to the horrid Potions lesson that morning. Unfortunately, every time Harry looked at Professor Lupin, he was reminded of what exactly Snape had gone after in his head. It took the entire class, but Harry finally plucked up the resolve to talk to the professor after class about what connection he and Snape might have. Ron and Hermione gave him funny looks, but they waited for him by the door as he approached the head of the classroom.

"Er...Professor? Do you have a minute?"

Lupin looked up and smiled as he set the essays he'd just collected back on the desk. "Sure. Would you like to go into my office?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I just wondered why you wouldn't let me face the boggart." It was an excuse to start a conversation, but it was something that had been bothering him for the past week. He hoped it would lead into something about Snape quickly, though much to his confusion, Lupin looked surprised by the question.

"I thought that would have been obvious?" When Harry's eyebrows furrowed, Lupin elaborated. "I didn't think it would be a good idea to have Lord Voldemort appear in the middle of class."

Harry let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "I...I actually didn't think of him. Not really."

Lupin raised an eyebrow. "You didn't?"

Harry shook his head. "No...I thought of the dementors."

A slight smile formed on Lupin's worn features, one that Harry found comforting for some reason. There was something about Lupin that put him at ease, something innately friendly about the easy--going professor. "That speaks of wisdom, Harry. Thinking of the dementors suggest that what you are most afraid of is fear itself. A very wise choice."

Harry wasn't quite sure what to say about that, so he just sort of stared through Lupin as he tried to wrap his mind around things.

"So you thought I didn't believe you could fight the boggart?" Lupin asked, still with a half--smile.

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Er...yeah."

Harry heard Ron shuffle his feet by the door, and then a muffled sound that was curiously annoyed. Lupin's smile broadened as he nodded toward the door. "I think your friends are waiting for you."

There wasn't much else Harry could say -- the conversation hadn't exactly gone as planned, and he didn't really feel like talking about Snape anymore. He felt better about the boggart and he didn't want to ruin it by talking about his least favorite person at Hogwarts. "Thank you, Professor." He turned to leave, but Lupin's voice stopped him before he could take a step.

"Any time, Harry. My door is always open."

Harry blinked, and then walked out into the hallway where Ron and Hermione were waiting. There was something strange about the way Lupin treated him -- it was almost like the old professor wanted to reach out to him, more like a friend than a student. As much as the thought tried to make him uncomfortable, he couldn't find any reason to feel worried about it.

------

Dinner was a relatively calm affair, which after a while Harry attributed to the twins' absence. For a brief moment he wondered what they were up to, but then he decided he was probably better off not knowing just in case he had to deny having a hand in their antics.

In the past two weeks, somehow Ginny had forced the seating arrangements so that Harry always sat next to her, which forced Ron to sit next to Hermione. Harry had initially wanted to ask why Ginny did this, but he found he didn't have to -- he just knew that she was more comfortable the closer they were together. The thought didn't exactly make him feel any better about it, but he had to admit it was having a good impact on Ron and Hermione -- they weren't fighting at mealtimes as much, since they had to sit next to each other, and Harry thought that they were fighting less in general.

After dinner, Hermione went straight to the library to study and Ron lured Seamus into a game of chess, so Harry found himself cornered alone in the common room with no one around him but Ginny.

"So you want to tell me what happened with Snape?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably on the couch -- he had been sitting comfortably and watching the fire until Ginny plopped down next to him. He knew the question was coming, but it wasn't something he wanted to talk about. He wanted to tell her, in a way, but he didn't want to have to even think about the experience again. Something about having the greasy git in his mind made him feel unclean in a way no amount of showering would cure.

"He tried to break into my mind again."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I'm not stupid, Harry. I could feel it too. What did he want?"

"You could feel it?"

"No, I could feel how you felt." A sliver of irritation slipped into her voice. "You know what I want to know, now spill."

That was the problem, Harry decided. He did know what she wanted -- he knew almost everything about her. "He went after Lupin again, and then when I took it away from him, he tried to come after me. He was about to attack me when Ron spilled the potion on him."

"Ron did what?"

Harry blinked. "I think it was Ron -- someone dumped over Ron's cauldron on Snape, and it broke his concentration."

Ginny backed off a bit after that, obviously lost in thought. Harry was glad for the breather -- Ginny could be outright vicious when it came to him trying to hide from her. He knew she only did it because she cared -- he felt that -- but it didn't make it any easier to give her the parts of himself he'd always hidden from everyone else.

"What did Snape do after that?"

Harry shrugged. "He took thirty points from Ron and gave him detention, then he didn't bother us the rest of class. We came straight back here after we were done."

Ginny nodded, and Harry felt her eyes on his profile, which to her, was outlined against the fire. "You looked pretty bad when I came in before lunch."

Harry leaned back into the sofa and allowed his eyes to fall shut, attempting to purge his system of the memories. He didn't really know what to say -- nothing really came to mind after something like that. The only thing he could tell that she was really worried about him. It had been present in her feelings for most of the day, but it was harder to ignore when her voice cracked like that.

_I'll be fine._

_You shouldn't have to deal with this. We should be going to Dumbledore._

_Neither of us wants that._

He heard Ginny sigh next to him, and then felt the cushion shift as if she laid back into the couch as well. For a long few minutes, Harry let the sounds of the common room wash over him and calm him, though if truth be told, it was more Ginny's presence that allowed him to relax than anything else. But he wasn't allowing himself to see the truth -- it was much easier to ignore it and go with the simple answer. Even so, he couldn't help but turn and look at her. He hated seeing her face like that -- it very nearly spoke of suffering, and he knew the main (and probably only) source of that suffering was himself.

_I'm sorry._

Ginny turned to look at him, and for a brief moment, their eyes met and Harry felt as though she was peering straight into his soul. It wasn't a comfortable feeling, and he quickly averted his eyes to his lap even as Ginny's disappointment flowed through him.

_There's nothing to be sorry for, Harry. We're in this together, remember? And don't even say you don't want me here, because I don't believe you. I know you better than that._

_I..._Harry stopped, because he realized that was exactly what he was about to say. Even through everything, he felt Ginny smirk at him, even if he wasn't looking at her face. _I'm not worth it then._

_Stop it. _Irritation burst into anger and frustration, which Harry recoiled from. Ginny was unpredictable when she was angry, especially with him, but fortunately she didn't seem inclined to do anything rash at the moment. _If you don't stop putting yourself down, I'm going to snog you right here in the middle of the common room._

Harry looked up in horror, but there was no refuge in her face or eyes. Something told him that she would make good on her threat, and that was not something he wanted to go through at all. _Why do you think that would help?_

_Because maybe you'd pull your head out of your arse and see that you're worth quite a bit to a lot of people. Including me._

_What have I done for you since I met you?_

Ginny's stare was nothing he couldn't have expected. She didn't even dignify his question with a response -- her expression said it all, and Harry felt ashamed for even bringing it up. For the first time in a good while, he felt the sting of tears in his eyes and tried to blink them away, but he wasn't fast enough. As soon as he felt a wave of warmth and compassion from Ginny, he stood and walked as fast as possible (without drawing attention) to the boys' staircase.

_Harry, I'm not going to leave you like this._

_I don't want to talk right now. I need to sleep._

_You're just going to sleep away your problems?_

_Something like that._

Harry shut down his emotions and forced himself to feel nothing except a bitterness he couldn't quite push away. The emotions flowing into his heart from Ginny were enough to deal with -- it was a mix of anger, frustration, irritation, sympathy, and compassion. He knew she just wanted to help -- that's all she ever really tried to do -- but he didn't want to be helped. He just wanted to be left alone.

_You shouldn't bottle things up like this -- it's not healthy._

_Okay, mother._

He got a morbid satisfaction from the shock and hurt that comment caused, and it allowed him the silence he was desperately wishing for. It was an unconscious process for him to slip out of his school robes and into his nightclothes, and he remembered nothing after hitting the pillow other than finally being able to release the tears and silently crying himself to sleep.

------

The next morning was extremely awkward. It took Ron five minutes and finally pulling Harry's blankets and pillow off the bed to get him up, and the silence in the dorm told him that Ginny wasn't the only one who knew about his early turn--in. Harry had hoped that he just wouldn't say anything, and he almost got his wish, but just as they were ready to head downstairs, Ron spoke up.

"What happened last night?"

Harry sighed. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Ginny was pretty messed up."

Harry looked over at his best friend, questioning him with a look. "I don't know why she would be."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "She said to ask you about it."

"I don't know what she's talking about." Harry shrugged. "It's not like I know what she's feeling or anything. You know more about her and girls in general than I do."

Thankfully, Ron let it drop at that, but as they picked up Hermione to go down to breakfast, he could almost feel his two best friends stealing glances at him. Ginny was nowhere to be found, and though that wasn't surprising, it did shine quite a bit of light onto Harry that he didn't necessarily want.

At lunch, Harry supposed it could have been worse. Breakfast was quiet, and Ancient Runes was probably the easiest class on his schedule. Again, the subject just seemed to come to him, and even though Hermione gave him dark looks for not taking any notes at all, he was able to discuss the lecture intelligently with her after class. She, of course, was still way ahead of him in terms to knowledge, but Harry didn't mind. If anything, he was encouraged to hide his talent, because he knew if he ever scored higher than her on a test, she would only work harder to get a head again and she already had enough on her plate.

There was a small moment of discomfort when Ginny walked right past the trio to sit with her roommates (who looked rather surprised), but Harry silently praised Ron and Hermione for not saying anything about it. It wasn't until after dinner that night did he finally have to talk to Ginny, and even that was rather forced. Harry had been relieved that Ginny avoided him all day, but apparently Hermione had other ideas as she nearly dragged the redhead out of the Great Hall.

"Ron? Harry, Ginny, and I are going to the library. Would you like to join us?" Hermione asked politely, though by her tone of voice both Harry and Ginny knew better than to protest, whether they wanted to go with her or not. Ron took one look between the three and shook his head.

"No...I think I'll just head back up to the common room." His eyes bounced to Hermione again. "It's probably safer there."

Even in his current mood, Harry couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter at Ron's back. One look from Hermione quieted him, but it was still a nice relief to find something amusing amid such an abysmal day.

True to her word, Hermione dragged Harry and Ginny to the library and gave them pointed looks telling them to sit down, though they still hadn't looked at each other. Hermione sat at the head of the table between them, looking completely serious with her hands folded on the table in front of her.

"Okay. What's wrong with you two?"

_At least she's blunt, _Harry thought. Ginny's head snapped up and her eyes found him for the first time, causing him to curse quietly and to himself this time. He hadn't meant for Ginny to hear that particular thought -- or any of his thoughts at the moment.

"You've both been miserable all day, and it's driving me up the wall. Now out with it."

Harry finally looked up at Ginny, and found that she didn't look away from him. She tilted her head slightly in question, and in response Harry shrugged. It was sort of odd, not using words when they could have, but neither of them felt the need to. In any case, Harry caught Ginny's pointed look and sighed.

"We're just fighting, Hermione. You don't need to get involved."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I doubt that -- neither of you would admit you were wrong if your life depended on it."

"I was wrong," Harry said, drawing shocked looks (and feelings) from both Ginny and Hermione. "Ginny was just trying to help, and I pushed her away."

Neither girl responded for a good while, which gave Harry another sort of grim satisfaction. Harry squirmed in his seat and glanced at the door, wondering if he could make it before Hermione could get her wand out to stop him, but he felt something give inside of Ginny and her foot tapped his toes under the table.

"It's all right Harry. I just care about you and I don't want you to push me away."

He didn't know what to say to that, so he just nodded and looked down.

"What were you two fighting about anyway?"

Harry wasn't sure who got irritated with Hermione first, but Ginny spoke for the both of them. "It started with Snape, but it's between the two of us."

Hermione looked a little taken aback with Ginny's sharp response, but true to form, she wasn't deterred. "What does he want, Harry?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Did Ron knock that cauldron over?"

Hermione shook her head as her eyes met the floor. "Yes... no. Sort of. I encouraged him to do it. I didn't want to get detention with Snape."

"You didn't want to get detention...so you made someone else do it?" Ginny asked.

"No!" Hermione squirmed in her chair, looking as though she was about to cry. Harry wondered what anyone had said, but given her mental state these days, it could have been anything. "I mean...I just thought that with everything that's going on, I shouldn't be alone with him. Ron doesn't know anything that could hurt you."

A light bulb went off in Harry's head even as shame rolled off of Ginny and into him. "It's all right Hermione. You did the best thing, given the circumstances," Harry said. "Snape was about to attack me inside my head."

She looked up, and though she'd managed to not let the tears fall, it was very apparent that she was upset. "Ron is going to hate me!"

Harry shook his head. "He didn't say anything about it all day, even when you weren't there. I think he would have done it anyway."

Hermione sniffed. "You looked like you were having a seizure."

"If it had gone on any longer, I probably would have passed out again." Harry agreed. "But it didn't, and you helped. Thank you."

Her eyes searched his face, as if looking for deceit, but she must have found none because she leapt out of her chair and nearly tackled Harry with a hug. Jealousy (where did that come from?) and extreme discomfort mixed inside of Harry and Ginny's bond, though Harry still found some way to pat Hermione's back and assure her that everything was all right. After a moment, the brunette settled back into her chair and looked properly bashful.

"I'm sorry about that... I... I just..."

"It's all right, Hermione," Harry said, even as Ginny gave him a look as if to say _No it wasn't, and you know it,_ but he ignored her. It was worth a little discomfort to him if he needed to comfort Hermione and keep her from totally losing it.

There was an awkward few minutes were none of the three really knew what to say, but while Harry was wondering if he should suggest going back up to the common room, Hermione spoke in a much calmer, much more focused voice. "I'm glad I could get you two alone -- I do have a favor to ask."

Harry shot a warning look at Ginny -- it was obvious that the redhead didn't really want to consider whatever Hermione was going to ask. "What kind of favor?"

"I want you to test my Occlumency shields."

Harry blinked. "What?"

"I want you to use Legilimency on me to see if I'm making any progress."

"You want me to break into your mind?"

She squirmed. "Not so much break in as come where you're invited. And not just you, Ginny too."

Harry wondered if that was such a wise idea, but he put it aside for now. "And why would we be doing this again?"

Hermione's eyes put the briefest of looks toward Ginny, but she quickly covered it up by looking away. "Because I want to see if I'm making any progress. And because it would be interesting to see if you see other people's minds the way you see your own."

"And this isn't just to satisfy your own curiosity?" Ginny asked, smugly. Hermione turned red and looked down, but after a hard look at Ginny, Harry reached out to her with a soft voice.

"Hermione, it's all right if you're curious. I just don't want you to pretend you're not. It's kind of obvious."

She mumbled something that Harry didn't catch, but he let it go.

"And we don't know how to do Legilimency. The Occlumency was kind of an accident."

Hermione looked thoughtful. "You haven't read about it in the Occlumency book?"

"Well, yeah, but I don't think I could do it."

"You could try." Hermione made a point of meeting Harry's eyes, which was more of encouragement than any words could offer.

"What if I find something I don't want to?"

Hermione shrugged. "I don't have anything to hide."

Harry seriously doubted that, but he could see that there would be no dissuading her. "All right, but I'm not going to stay long, even if this does work."

She nodded, then looked at Ginny. "You can go next."

Ginny's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you sure you want me reading your mind?"

Hermione's answer was solid. "I insist."

Suddenly, Harry's mind clicked. This wasn't about curiosity, or even testing her Occlumency shields. Hermione wanted Ginny to trust her, and she would even let the girl read her mind with impunity if it gave her any chance at all to gain that trust. He opened his mouth to say something, but Hermione silenced him with a look and met his eyes with a powerful gaze.

Harry let himself fall back into his subconscious, pulling his mental representation of the Occlumency book to him and letting the words about Legilimency come to the surface. He kept a partial vision in the real world, where his eyes locked onto Hermione's, and stretched out with his feelings toward her. Suddenly, another door appeared in his head, one that was distinctly different than the door Snape had barged in only yesterday. It was large, ornate, and made of the best--looking wood Harry had ever seen. The door handle looked as though it was made of pure gold, and it in itself was a work of art with its curves and lines wrapped in and upon each other. Harry stepped toward the door, but as soon as he touched the handle, it shocked him and he had to pull back. Keeping his mind vision going, he turned enough of his attention to the real world to talk to Hermione.

"Are you using Occlumency?"

Hermione nodded. "Is it working?"

"I think so." Harry wondered how he could break through that shield, but he didn't bother thinking about it much for now. He didn't like the idea of reading people's thoughts against their will.

"Okay, I'll let it down then." Hermione's eyes glazed over for a moment, and Harry wondered how exactly she imagined her internal defenses. He'd have to ask her later. Pushing aside his thoughts, he tried the door again, and this time it swung quietly open and Harry stepped into the biggest, most finely decorated library he'd ever seen. It put the Hogwarts library to shame in its glory. The shelves were lined with rows upon rows upon rows of books of different colors, though books with the same color seemed to be grouped together. Upon further inspection, he noticed that the books were in alphabetical order, and that changes in colors detonated a change letter of the alphabet. There had to be tens of thousands of books -- the shelves just went on and on and on, and the books themselves seemed to be in perfect condition.

After a few moments of awe, Harry noticed something moving in his peripheral vision. He walked quickly down toward the movement, and when he got there, he saw Hermione, but it wasn't the Hermione that he knew. It was a much more frazzled, much more tired looking, much more harassed looking Hermione who looked like she'd been working for years on end without a vacation. She was in the middle of writing as fast and neatly as she possibly could in a few books that looked as though they'd come from the shelves, some of the titles of which were "Legilimency", "Occlumency", and "Harry and Ginny's Soul Bond." The last one surprised him -- he hadn't really pondered a name for his and Ginny's connection before entering her mind.

"Hermione?" Harry heard his voice vaguely in reality, but he kept most of his attention on inside of her mind.

"Did you get in?"

"Yes...but I'm going to try something. Don't freak out."

"A-all right." She sounded a little nervous, but Harry continued anyway. He sat and watched mind-Hermione work like a mad woman, wondering if this was really how she felt all the time. She didn't seem to notice him, so he stepped toward her and put his hand on her arm. She looked up from her writing for only a moment before she pulled the Legilimency book toward her and began scribbling even more furiously.

"Harry? I... I think I felt that."

He smiled in his mind vision, and he must have smiled in real life because he noted vaguely that the girls were giving him funny looks. "What did it feel like?"

"It was weird...I don't know. I just felt like someone touched my mind, as if they were trying to...to...comfort me." She bit out the last part as if she really didn't want to say it, and Harry could understand why. It was a very personal thing to be inside of someone's mind, and it had to be a very personal experience to be touched in any sort of way like that.

"Okay. I think I'm going to leave now."

Both mind-Hermione and real-Hermione froze. "No, wait!"

"What?"

"What does it look like?"

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but he had to grin when he noticed another book appear next to mind--Hermione, completely blank, this one titled "Self Mind Vision." Leave it to Hermione to come up with a title like that.

"Just imagine the biggest, most comfortable, quietest, and best looking library you can possibly think of, and I think you'll have it."

Harry heard Ginny snigger, but Hermione seemed too engrossed in her thoughts to notice. Indeed, mind--Hermione was scribbling away so fast Harry wondered if she ever got hand cramps form writing so much. At least she seemed to be using a self--inking quill.

"Are there books in it?"

Harry laughed out loud. The idea of a library that huge without books was absurd. "Yes, and they're all in alphabetical order by subject. Each letter has a different color."

Hermione's eyes glazed over as if she was imagining it, and Harry assumed she would get pretty close. This was, after all, her mind.

"You said you touched me?"

Harry nodded, his eyes turning to look at mind--Hermione again. "There's a replica of you in here, writing things down in the books. She's writing faster than I've ever seen anyone write, and I assume she's writing the things that you're thinking about and learning."

Hermione nodded. "Does she look exactly like me?"

"Sort of."

There was a pause -- Harry really couldn't see the real world anymore, but his hearing was there. He wondered what Hermione was doing before she spoke again.

"What do you mean?"

Harry wondered if she would rather keep this private, but he supposed Ginny was going to see her anyway. "She looks like she could use a month long vacation."

Mind-Hermione froze again, and Harry wondered if he shouldn't have said anything. When she did get back to work, it was slower and it seemed as if she was having a problem writing the things down. Harry guessed that Hermione didn't want to admit to herself that she was overworked, but he didn't read her writing out of respect to of her privacy.

"Okay, I'm coming out now." He started to walk toward the exit to the library as he registered her response. Once he was back inside his own mind and the door disappeared behind him, he let himself fall back into the real world.

"I wish there was some way you could show me what you saw."

Harry shrugged. "I would if I could..." He trailed off as Madam Pince walked by, looking extremely nosy even though she didn't say a word. When there was only silence between the three students, the librarian seemed to get the picture and moved off in another direction.

"We should go back to the common room," Hermione said. "It's getting late, and things are probably more private there now."

Harry and Ginny nodded their agreement and the trio made their way back out into the hallway with Hermione leading the way back to Gryffindor Tower. Harry didn't mind -- he had other things to think about at the moment, and he was content to let his body go on autopilot.

_Ginny...I really mean it. I'm sorry about last night. I didn't just say it because Hermione was there._

The halls weren't empty by any stretch of the imagination, but they were still quiet enough that Harry could hear his footsteps echo gently off the walls, as if underlining the silence.

_I know. I can feel it, remember?_

_And I can feel that you're still hurt by it, so I'm going to try and make it right. If I'm going to admit I'm wrong, I'm at least going to do it properly._

A reluctant smile formed on Ginny's lips as Hermione gave her funny glance, and then nodded in understanding. Harry felt a little bad about so blatantly blocking her from the conversation, but in his mind, she shouldn't have interfered in the first place. Ginny didn't say anything more, so Harry was content to leave the silence peaceful for the rest of the walk up to the tower.

------

With Ron around, Ginny never did get her chance to try Legilimency on Hermione, something Harry was grateful for. He couldn't see anything good coming from it, even though Hermione seemed bent on gaining Ginny's trust back that way. It was another couple hours before Ron, Harry, and Ginny finally teamed up on Hermione to get her out of the common room and up to her bed, and that was only after she'd fallen asleep with her nose in her Potions textbook.

Ron decided to turn in next, after throwing a wary eye and Harry and Ginny. Harry assured him that he'd be up to bed soon and that he just wanted to finish copying some Potions notes that had gotten ruined in the spill the day before, which was only partially a lie. He did want to finish those notes, just not as badly as he wanted some time to talk to Ginny alone. There were still quite a few sixth and seventh years left up (and even a couple using the couch for a little more than snuggling), but for the most part everyone had gone to bed.

"So is everything all right?" Harry asked, without preamble.

"Yes, Harry, you're forgiven." She sighed. "You just don't now how much it hurts...well, I guess you would...but it hurts a lot when you're trying to help someone and they throw it back up in your face."

"I know." Just because he hadn't cared the night before didn't mean he couldn't feel her pain. "I'll try not to do it again. You know why I reacted like that."

Ginny smiled. "You aren't used to having people care about you. Yes, I know all about you Harry Potter. It doesn't mean you can't learn."

"I guess that's what I'm doing right now."

They sat for a few minutes in silence, reading and listening to the quiet buzz of the common room behind them. Eventually, Ginny closed her book and set it on the table, all pretenses of continuing to read dropped. "I've been working on getting comfortable inside my mind. I...I think I've got it where I can stay there for as long as I need without anything happening."

Harry looked up and put his own book aside, a little surprised at the topic. He hadn't thought much about Ginny's mind--visions since she'd confronted the basilisk -- he'd figured that was something she needed to deal with on her own. "That's great!"

"You want to have a look?"

For a brief moment, Harry waited for the sly grin to come onto her face that always accompanied her own jokes, but she was being completely serious. When he'd agreed to walk into Hermione's mind, it was to satisfy a curiosity, and perhaps do a little research, but this was completely personal.

"Er..." Harry's eyes looked every where but at her, searching for an answer. "I don't want to... I mean, if you want me to, I will, and I wouldn't mind, but I --"

Harry was cut off by a finger to his lips and a soft smile. "Hush. I know you want to, so don't deny it. I don't have anything to hide from you, and I think it would be kind of nice to have you inside me."

It took a moment for that to sink in, but Ginny's barely restrained laughter and quirky eyebrow told him everything he needed to know. An instant later, both of them broke out into fits of laughter at the double entendre, effectively relieving the seriousness of the situation.

"I can hear your brothers coming to kill me already," Harry said, throwing a look of feigned fear at the boys' staircase. Ginny laughed a bit more at that, and Harry decided he liked the sound of her laughter -- in a completely friendly sort of way, of course.

"I am serious though, Harry." She met his eyes much like Hermione had back in the library. "It doesn't have to be for long, I just want to see what happens."

Harry nodded and leaned back into his chair to get comfortable, and watched Ginny do the same. Their eyes never left contact, allowing Harry to slip into his subconscious state and easily found her with a mental stretch. The gateway that appeared in his mind was nothing like Hermione's -- it was more of a stone archway that was lackluster in decoration, with a wooden door made of seven side--by--side wooden panels cut to fill the arch. A large metal ring was attached to the rightmost two panels of wood in what Harry could only consider to be a handle.

After taking in this new appearance and noting how it fit perfectly into the stone walls of his room, Harry stepped over to the door and pulled on the iron ring. The door slid easily open and revealed an all too familiar chamber beyond, but one that was somewhat less dark than he remembered. He took a few steps into the room and let the door close behind him, his eyes already catching a flash of movement in front of the statue of Salazar Slytherin. He walked quietly over to the source of that movement and found Ginny smiling up at him from her cross--legged position on the floor, a book lying open in her lap. He didn't need her to tell him what the book was -- the green ball that she had been gazing at felt too familiar, like an extension of himself. He supposed it was.

From his experience with Hermione, he didn't expect the mind--Ginny to interact with him at all, but it did just the opposite. She closed the diary in her lap and set it on the floor before standing and gesturing around at the chamber.

"Like it?"

His surprise didn't last long -- it only made sense that Ginny would be able to visualize what he did, and would therefore be able to see him in her mind. "It's...nice."

Ginny laughed, as if she'd expected that answer. "I actually did learn how to change it, but I decided I liked it how it was. It helps me remember that I shouldn't run from things all the time."

Harry looked confusedly at her. "You're not the type to run away from things."

She shook her head, and somehow the color in her hair waved as if glowing from an unidentifiable light source. "It's just the important things. My guilt, for one." Her eyes sparkled gently at him. "I have you to thank for helping me out of that hole. I ran from my family, too, after the chamber. I still haven't found the courage to write my mum and tell her I'm doing well at school." For a moment, Harry wondered if she was lost in thought, but eventually her eyes came back into the present and rested on him. "And you, really. All I did last year was run from you when you were the person who could have helped the most."

Harry wasn't sure what to say to that -- or if he could say anything at all. Something had glued his mouth shut just by listening to her, and feeling how free her emotions were. A gentle calm was rolling off of her even in the middle of the scene of her worst nightmare, and she seemed to be happy with everything, including herself. For the first time, Harry really felt that she'd put her first year at Hogwarts behind her, and that he was seeing Ginny as she truly was.

"You've been thinking a lot in the last week."

Ginny nodded, almost sheepishly. "I've had a lot of time to do that, since my best friend is a year ahead of me."

"And your brother," Harry added, feeling uncomfortable at being singled out.

"And my brother," Ginny agreed. "And the girl that I'm supposed to be friends with but I really don't trust because she wants to let people in on my secret."

Harry chuckled and inwardly agreed with her assessment. "She means well, and I know she won't tell anyone."

"I know how you feel, I'm just taking a while to come around."

A peaceful silence fell over the pair as Harry walked around the Chamber and looked at it in greater detail -- he'd had more important things on his mind on all of his previous visits. He didn't know if Ginny had done it or if it has come like this, but it looked as though all of the damage to the original architecture had been repaired, and the stone didn't seem so slimy or dirty. It was still cool, but the bitter chill had been taken out of the air and it was somewhat lighter than the actual Chamber had been.

"I wonder what people are thinking right now," Ginny said, and after a questioning look, added, "In the common room. We're just staring at each other."

Harry grinned and shrugged. "I really don't care. Let..." He let out a loud and quite long yawn. "Let them talk all they want."

Ginny nodded, and even turned slightly pink, though Harry hadn't a clue why she would be embarrassed. "We really should be getting off to bed."

Harry turned back toward her. "Okay, Mum."

She looked shocked and appalled for a moment, but her facade crumbled when she giggled and pointed toward the door he'd entered through. Harry was glad, too -- he'd thought for a moment that he'd gone too far in making light of their fight the night before. "Out of my head, Potter."

He looked over at the door with some hesitation, and then did a double-take. At first glance it was a normal door into his dormitory, only set into the stone of the Chamber, but there was something distinctly more inviting about it. The hard lines were softened into curves, and the wood was much richer than the ones in Gryffindor Tower. He was feeling a bit tired, so after shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he strode over to said door and grasped the heart-shaped doorknob. He forced the implications of that out of his mind, though he couldn't resist one last comment over his shoulder. "I'll be back, Weasley."

Ginny shooed him away with her hands and they both fell back into the real world. The first thing Harry noticed was the huge smile on Ginny's lips, which in turn infected him with one of his own. There was a bit of an awkward moment where they both stared at each other, but then they both rose together and picked up their bags.

"'Night Ginny."

"'Night Harry."

A moment of hesitation passed, and then both of them turned toward their respective staircases without another word. It was one of the weirdest feelings Harry remembered feeling, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant. An unbiased observer would have noted that he took to the stairs with a bit more excitement than normal, though Harry himself just attributed it to the oddness of having a completely mental conversation with his best friend before bed.

_That's exactly what it was. Mental._

Harry chuckled to himself as he slipped out of his school clothes and fell onto his bed, feeling rather good about life.

------

_**A/N:** All right, sorry about the wait. I might have had it out last Saturday, but because of Deathly Hallows, no go. The good news is Chapter Eight is nearly done, so it shouldn't be as along of a wait for it. I'd like to thank **kiramythos** for beta-ing this chapter for me - the squeaky clean polish of this chapter is credited to him._

_If you have any questions or comments that you'd like to discuss, my google group link is in my profile._

_Another note: There were a few changes that didn't get changed after beta before I posted - mistakes are mine. Don't kill the beta. P_


	8. A Black Halloween

8: A Black Halloween

Thursday was fast becoming a dreadful day for Harry Potter – not even the idea of a lesson with Professor Lupin would allow him to feel even slightly better about having to go to double Potions. Ron had served his detention the first Monday after spilling his cauldron on Snape, and though he had said the work itself wasn't too bad, he'd had to go get a headache potion from Madam Pomfrey to get to sleep. Hermione and Harry had exchanged meaningful glances when Ron told them this – there was no doubt Snape had been rummaging around in Ron's mind and probably gotten angry when he couldn't find anything about Harry learning Occlumency or something similar.

Hermione, Ron, and Ginny seemed to understand Harry's Thursday woes, so when he didn't say a word at breakfast all of the next Thursday morning, none of the three tried to start up a conversation. He hated the looks of pity from Ron and Hermione, though it had only taken a flare up of irritation for Ginny to realize that feeling sorry for him wasn't going to help things. Instead, she projected a feeling of quiet bravery she'd taken to working herself into whenever Harry had to be anywhere near Snape, and Harry was grateful for it. Her encouraging smile as the trio split off to head to the dungeons took the edge off his anxiety, and he was able to enter the Potions class without actively shaking.

Snape was back to his usual self – he took five points from Gryffindor when Neville arrived late, but merely let Blaise Zabini off with a warning even though the Slytherin walked in after Neville. Harry was too focused on other things and too used to Snape's venom to be bothered by it, even when Ron let out a sigh of disgust next to him.

The class was delightfully normal for the first part of the double period, much to Harry's relief. As the class wore on, he was able to relax more and more as Snape didn't seem interested in even looking at him, instead preferring to lecture on the subtle art of brewing a fine potion and ignoring the Slytherins' attempts to provoke the Gryffindors into doing something stupid and getting house points taken faster than you could say "Not fair." About an hour and fifteen minutes into the class, Snape put instructions for a relatively quick potion on the board and told them all to get to work and figure out the last step of the process given the lecture and all the ingredient laws they'd learned so far. Harry could have sworn Snape gave Neville a nasty sneer at this, but that too was normal.

As Harry began to brew his potion, Snape seemed to be focused on something that kept his attention away from taunting the Gryffindors. Harry wasn't going to jump up and complain though – if he could get out of the class without a Legilimency attack, he'd probably jump for joy in the hallways. It was another few minutes before he noticed Hermione shifting uncomfortably in front of him and looking unusually distracted. After another few minutes, he noticed that she was pointedly keeping her eyes as far as possible from Snape, even if it interfered with her potion brewing. He wouldn't have noticed except that Snape spent almost all of his time glaring in Hermione's direction. It was too much of a coincidence.

Suddenly, the end of the class couldn't come too soon – in fact, Harry would have given a sizable portion of his Gringotts vault to have it end five minutes ago. He knew Hermione had practiced Occlumency and stepped up her efforts in the last two weeks, but even her penchant for keeping things organized and out of the way wouldn't help her if Snape was really determined. A thousand ideas floated through his mind, including pulling out his wand and hexing Snape on the spot, but nothing he could come up with would help in the slightest bit without giving him detention – and the last thing he needed was detention with Snape.

Ron gave him an inquiring look when he started to stir his cauldron with a bit more intensity than was needed, but Harry brushed it off and worked to calm his frustration. The beginnings of a plan were forming in his head, but he felt a little uncomfortable about it, even if Hermione was in trouble. The clincher was the realization that she couldn't even ask for help, or do anything with Snape's eyes locked on her like he was. After Harry realized that, he stopped even trying to make something out of his work and locked his eyes on the back of Hermione's head. If Snape could do it without eye contact, so could he.

The dungeon rapidly drifted out of sight as Harry stretched out mentally toward Hermione. Even with his limited experience, Legilimency was fast becoming second nature, almost like he'd learned it before and only had to be refreshed. With a non-verbal _Legilimens!_, a familiar door appeared in Harry's mind and he all but barreled through it – apparently Hermione was so focused on Snape she never saw his invasion coming. Harry spend about a half-second wondering if this was even right, but when he saw Snape running his fingers down the rows of books, all thoughts of morals flew out the window.

Feeling for his wand on instinct, Harry found it inside his robes and whipped it out as Snape finally decided on a book and pulled it out. Harry shouted the first spell that came to mind, one that he was sure would work.

"_Expelliarmus!_"

Snape was knocked back a few meters and tripped as the book he was reading flew into Harry's hand. It was rather thick in a way that Hagrid was rather large, and he'd just made out the title to be "Harry" before looking back at Snape, who was on the floor looking rather disoriented. Harry quickly searched his mind for something that would keep him down, but nothing came to mind except –

"_Petrificus Totalus!_"

He fully expected the spell to bind Snape and keep him on the ground, but instead, the Potions master drew his own wand out and deflected the spell into the ceiling with a sharp pop. Harry suddenly felt terrified at the thought of Snape also being an Innate Occlumens, but after staring at the professor in fright for a few moments, he noticed Snape's eyes were unfocused. He seemed to be feeling his way around instead of actually seeing things, but that didn't keep Harry from wanting to run as soon as those hate-filled black eyes found the book in his arms. The only think keeping Harry in place was raw fear, which rooted his feet to the spot and set his mind running through a thousand options as Snape lunged toward him. Finally, Harry's thoughts locked into place and he dove to the side, rolling on his shoulder as Snape's arms caught thin air and then smacked not-so-softly against the carpet.

It was a reflex that finally won in the end – Harry lifted his head and raised his wand slightly, his hand only taking a split-second to aim before he let loose another spell.

"_Punctus!_"

It was a simple Stinging Hex, but it seemed to do the job – Snape clutched his side and let out a grunt of pain before fading away slowly, leaving Harry breathing rather quickly and clutching the book in his arms. Mindful of where he was, Harry quickly disengaged from his visualization (he'd had plenty of practice doing this the previous summer) and looked around to find Snape clutching his head as if he'd developed a painful headache. Hermione didn't look to be doing any better – both Ron and Neville were giving her concerned glances as she rubbed her temples with two fingers.

"What's going on?"

The whisper came from behind and to Harry's right side, and he turned around to find Malfoy whispering to Pansy Parkinson. He grimaced – the last thing he wanted was Malfoy to catch onto his mental sparring matches with Snape, even if it gave him a feeling of immense satisfaction to freely hex Snape without fear of punishment or expulsion.

Harry turned back around to find the Potions master behind his desk and drinking out of a small potion bottle. The vindictive side of Harry hoped it was a very strong painkiller, and that it would be enough to discourage any future attempts at invading other people's minds. With a small note of humor, Harry wondered if Snape had ever had any third years suddenly develop advanced forms of Occlumency, let alone two in the same class. It was pleasing to know that his new skills probably caused immense frustration to his least favorite teacher.

For the rest of the class, Harry remained alert and kept at least one eye on Snape, but the Potions master didn't hold his eyes on any of the Gryffindors any longer than necessary to sneer at their attempts at potion making. He seemed particularly vindictive toward Hermione, though Harry couldn't tell why – her potion was probably still one of the best in the class, even if it wasn't the best. He supposed that Snape never got to criticize Hermione's potion brewing skills, so he was enjoying the one chance he had, even if it was due to Hermione's distraction and apparent headache. After the class was over, Hermione could be seen rubbing her forehead with a hand as she followed Harry and Ron out of the dungeons.

"What's up with Snape lately? He's been acting funny ever since you passed out the first week," Ron wondered aloud, without noticing the dark look that Harry and Hermione shared.

"He's probably just angry about missing the Defense Against the Dark Arts position again. He seems to really not like Professor Lupin," Hermione suggested, though it didn't really sound as though she believed it. Ron glanced over at her, for once looking a little concerned.

"Are you all right? D'you need to go see Madam Pomfrey?"

"I'm fine, Ron. Just a bit of a headache."

Harry had to resist the urge to push further. If what he'd witnessed and done was any indication, he wouldn't have been surprised of Hermione's head wasn't splitting open at the seams as she talked. But because of Ron, he couldn't say much as the trio headed up to Gryffindor tower to drop off their books and head down to lunch.

------

Ginny gave Harry a meaningful look as they sat down to eat, but he shook his head and was glad when she took the hint. Now wasn't the best time to talk about what had happened, especially when he wanted to get Hermione in on the conversation. It just didn't feel right to talk about it without Hermione being involved; most of what happened was inside of her mind. Harry had wondered over the summer what it actually meant to be inside his own mind, and he'd decided that it wasn't something that could readily be explained by the physical laws he'd learned in primary school. He'd placed it in the same category as his faith in magic – the landscape of the mind was one of those things you knew existed, but you couldn't explain how to get there or why it worked that way.

But Harry was thinking about none of those things as he piled food on his plate and carefully avoided eating the same things as Ginny. Interestingly enough, there were very few things that he liked that she didn't, and even fewer were the things she liked that he didn't. Even so, there was enough food on the table (even at lunch) to avoid "eating in tandem," as Hermione had put it.

After lunch, the trio headed to Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was brilliant as usual. Harry found that it was good to sink into the material and at least put his problems with Snape in the back of his mind, even if they never left his thoughts completely. By the end of the class, regardless of his attempts at pushing the thoughts away, Harry had decided that Snape went over the line when he started in on Hermione. He told Ron and Hermione that he would catch up with them later, and after enduring confused looks and questions from them, he headed once again up to Lupin's desk.

"Professor?"

Lupin looked up and smiled, if a bit tiredly. "What can I do for you Harry?"

"Do you have a moment?"

The professor made a show of checking his watch, which Harry assumed ran off of magic, and then nodded. "I've got a few, if you want them."

"I just wondered if you knew Professor Snape before you came to teach here."

Lupin's expression clouded, as if he was trying to repress his first reaction and keep his emotions under wraps. "We went to school together, yes. Why would you ask?"

Harry blinked. He knew that Snape had gone to school with his father, and if Lupin had gone at the same time, then wouldn't he have known James Potter as well?

"You weren't friends."

It was more of a statement than a question, and Harry regretted saying it as Lupin's expression became very suspicious. "No, you couldn't have said that. Has he said anything to you about me?"

Clearly, Lupin was thrown off-guard by Harry's questions, and had no idea why Snape might be so interested in him. At least, that's what Harry guessed. Either that, or Lupin was a very good actor and specialized and feigning surprise and confusion.

"Not specifically." Harry wasn't particularly interested in explaining his reasons for asking, so he changed the subject entirely. "Is there any way to fight dementors?"

It was Lupin's turn to blink and pause as he wrapped his mind around the sudden change in conversation. After a few moments pause, his eyes roamed over Harry thoughtfully as he answered. "There is a way to drive them off, but it is very advanced magic and beyond the abilities of many grown witches and wizards."

Harry felt a bright surge of hope despite Lupin's caution. "Can you teach me?"

Lupin took another few moments to debate his decision, and with each passing second Harry could feel his heart drop farther. When the decision came, Harry couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

"Albus has forbidden the dementors to enter the castle, so there's no real rush in learning. I've been feeling a little less than perfect lately, and I have a feeling that I might fall ill in the next few days, so now wouldn't be such a good time to begin. If you're still interested, maybe we can work out something in the next few weeks. I understand you're not able to go to Hogsmeade?"

Harry sighed. He hadn't thought about Hogsmeade in a long while, but Lupin brought the disappointment back to the front of his mind. "No, my uncle wouldn't sign the form."

For a brief moment Harry thought he saw a pain in Lupin's eyes, but it was gone so fast he decided that he'd imagined it.

"Perhaps Hogsmeade weekends would be a good weekend to practice. Can you hold off until then?"

Harry nodded. "Thank you, Professor."

"Anytime, Harry."

Again, Harry was struck by the familiarity that Lupin seemed to treat him with, but he turned and headed out of the classroom without saying anything. Perhaps the Defense professor was just the friendly type – it would certainly explain Snape's loathing of him. Harry had a soft chuckle at that; Snape would probably hate anyone who tried to be friendly.

------

The next few weeks passed quickly and, at least for Harry, the time seemed to be somewhat close to normal. Of course, normal for Harry Potter has a slightly different definition than your average Hogwarts student – for one, he had a girl practically living inside of his head, and for two, he never knew what to expect from his Potions professor. The former of these two abnormalities Harry was generally happy with – he and Ginny grew ever closer together, and it seemed that their bond was growing to allow them the ability to locate each other on a whim, even more so than before. Before, they had to be within a certain distance of each other for the sharper feelings and locating ability to work, but now it seemed that they distance restriction on that had disappeared.

The latter of these two abnormalities was a source of unease, both for Harry and for his trio of friends that never seemed far from his side. Snape treated him – and to a lesser extent, Ron and Hermione – with alternating bouts of rage and indifference, and it seemed that he could flip between attitudes without any warning. Snape had also gone after Ginny in her second year potions class, and though she'd been able to drive the Potions master off, she'd been jumpy and pale for a few hours after the class had ended. After the two painful failed attempts at using Legilimency on Hermione and Ginny, Snape had kept his Legilimency talents away from the Harry and his three closest friends. That wasn't to say he'd stopped entirely (Harry still caught him eyeing other students suspiciously) but without their permission to enter their minds, Harry felt like his hand were tied. Not that he was looking forward to another confrontation with Snape – he was immensely glad that Ron had never shown any signs of being attacked mentally after his one detention with Snape. Apparently the Potions master knew there was nothing of worth inside the gangly redhead's mind.

The one thing, or rather, person, that Harry forced himself to keep an eye on was Hermione. The more he thought about it, the more his mind-vision of her made him want to steal her books and chuck them in the lake. She was working entirely too hard, but he seemed to be the only one who really noticed. Ginny acknowledged his thoughts on the subject, but she didn't offer her opinion one way or another. Harry had carefully avoided bringing up Legilimency or Occlumency when he was with Hermione and Ginny – he hoped that Hermione would forget about her quest for Ginny's trust, and he was rewarded for his efforts. As more time passed, Harry could feel Ginny's resolve weaken, and he hoped that it wouldn't be much longer before she had to admit that Hermione wasn't going to sell them out.

October came and the air began to chill, giving Harry another thing to add to his already busy schedule. Wood seemed to work them three times as hard in Quidditch practice this year compared to previous years, and Harry assumed it was due to the Quidditch Captain's imminent graduation from Hogwarts. Still, coming into the common room after a late practice only to find a pile of books reminding him of his homework wasn't a pleasant feeling, especially when Ginny encouraged him at every turn to do the work. It wasn't like Hermione's nagging though – for some reason, Ginny motivated him to do things he didn't especially want to do even though he knew he should. He'd pinned down the reason for his motivation after a while of thinking; it was hard to deal with her constant fretting and disappointment over the bond if he didn't do his best. Something just felt different about it when Ginny did it. Perhaps he could just tell that she wanted what was best for him, and wasn't just doing it out of habit.

No matter what the motivation behind it, Harry's marks were steadily on the rise in every class except Potions. Even Hermione had to concede that one; there wasn't a hope for Harry to do anything but barely scrape a passing mark in any class taught by Snape. The only person who seemed put out by Harry's new academic achievements was Ron, who grumbled and complained about the extra study time regardless of his own improvements in the area.

It wasn't until the third week of October until Harry noticed Ron and Hermione's steadily worsening relationship. They were always polite and cordial to each other, but after Ginny pointed out how stiff they were being toward each other, Harry began to worry. He knew that they had an ongoing quarrel about Crookshanks, but he didn't think they would let it get this bad. The only good thing that came out of it was Harry and Ginny got more time to spend alone, since the two of them always seemed to be storming off to their respective dormitories. Harry was glad Ginny was there – he might have gone mad trying to reconcile the two if he didn't have someone else to talk to and do homework with.

It was after one of Harry's long, grueling Quidditch practices that he arrived back to the common room to find it buzzing excitedly. He threw a questioning look at Ginny, and she replied with a mental _Hogsmeade Weekend. _He nodded and understood, something he knew she could feel through the bond.

It had taken nearly four months, but the mind-to-mind communication had become second nature to both of them, and with the occasional prod from Hermione, they didn't look as though they were sharing something that nobody else was privy to when they talked. Harry might have been disappointed by not being able to go to Hogsmeade, but he already had lessons lined up with Professor Lupin and it would be exciting to learn how to drive off dementors. With a certain hint of malice (to which Ginny raised an eyebrow), he wondered if he would be able to kill dementors if he tried hard enough.

"Excellent!" Fred said. He'd followed Harry and George through the portrait hole, all three of them exhausted from the practice. "I need to visit Zonko's, I'm nearly out of stink pellets."

Harry smiled as the twins ran down a list of things they'd need to buy. He strode over and flopped down into a chair next to Ginny and Ron. He felt Hermione's eyes on him for a moment, but she didn't say anything before returning to her book. Ron, however, plunged ahead with as much tact as a caveman.

"Maybe you can ask McGonagall if she'll let you go – just tell her about your aunt and uncle and she'll have to agree. And even if she doesn't, we'll bring you back loads of stuff."

Hermione threw Ron a dark look as Harry sighed. "I'm not going to ask her. I've got other plans."

All three of them perked up questioningly at this revelation. Harry hadn't bothered to mention his anti-dementor lessons with Lupin to any of them yet.

"What are you doing?" Ginny finally asked.

"Professor Lupin is going to teach me how to get rid of dementors."

"Oh really?" Hermione said, her eyes brightening. "I suppose you'll be learning some really advanced magic. I couldn't find anything that would get rid of them – it'll probably be beyond NEWT level."

Ginny rolled her eyes as Harry slumped back in his chair. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Hermione blinked and opened her mouth to reply, and then seemed to think better of it. She buried her nose in her book again and didn't say another word.

"Harry?" He turned his head toward Ginny, who didn't quite meet his eyes as she spoke. "Do you think Lupin would let me come too?"

He shrugged, wondering why she was so nervous about asking. "You can come with me since you're not going to Hogsmeade. The worst that can happen is he can say is no."

She tried to force a smile, but it only set Harry on alert even more once he realized how fake it was. The only emotion he could sense from her was fear, and perhaps a little loneliness, but he wondered if there wasn't something more under the surface. He knew she was afraid of rejection, and perhaps the dementors, but even that didn't add up to what he felt from her at the moment. He couldn't ask about it in front of Hermione and Ron, so he left it alone, but his concern was filed away in the back of his head with a little marker that said important.

That night, Harry had crawled into bed and punched his pillow to get comfortable when he remembered that afternoon's exchange. He wanted to talk to her about her feelings, but he was getting a little tired of not being able to see her when they talked. It wasn't that he couldn't read her emotion – the bond saw to that – but there was something about talking in person that was more satisfying than simply hearing her voice in his head. He knew that Ginny had gone up to bed at the same time he had, leaving Hermione in the common room with her huge pile of homework, though it only took a moment to feel that she was nowhere close to sleeping.

_Ginny?_

_Mmm?_

How she could make that noise mentally was beyond Harry. She'd always been good at mental expressions and moving beyond just words, something Harry couldn't seem to get a knack for.

_Do you think Legilimency would work for us without being able to see each other?_

It was a thought he'd had about a week ago, ever since they'd started poking around in each other's minds. Nothing too invasive, but Ginny had wanted to see what Harry's room looked like, and Harry found that he liked spending time with Ginny in a mental landscape that was their own. They'd always been careful about the conditions under which they connected – it was never for too long and they never were around too many people, especially Ron.

_I don't think so. The book says you need to at least be able to see the person, and eye contact is preferable._

_But what about our bond? Maybe it's possible through that?_

Ginny made a noise of indifference. _You could try._

Harry did just that. He didn't bother replying – for some reason, her indifference to the subject stung a little, and made him wonder if she didn't want him inside of her head anymore. Initially, they both had been excited (Ginny more so, even) to be able to meet in their respective mindscapes, but now it seemed that the glamour had worn off and Ginny was starting to regret ever letting him inside. She was certainly feeling regret – Harry just couldn't be sure what it was about.

He pushed all these thoughts aside and concentrated on that little red ball that was Ginny's presence in his mind. Instead of reaching out for her physical presence, like he would if she was in the room, he stretched out for her emotional presence in his mind, and suddenly found himself sucked into that little ball and falling flat on his face inside of Ginny's chamber. He heard a laugh from behind him, causing him to turn and glare at Ginny.

"You try and stay on your feet after getting sucked into someone else's head. We'll see who's laughing then."

Ginny shook her head. "It looks like I'll pass. Thanks though."

Harry scowled, but then the facts of the situation hit him. "Looks like it worked."

She nodded and closed her eyes to summon two rather comfortable looking chairs onto the dungeon floor. That was another ability they'd discovered; since it was Ginny's mind, she could create whatever she needed and vanish it when she was done. Harry originally got the idea from mind-Hermione creating a new book for her thoughts, but Ginny had extended it to creating chairs to sit in so they could be comfortable in their mind connections.

"You were afraid I'd tell you that you couldn't come to my extra lessons with Professor Lupin," Harry said as they took their seats. That was the way they'd developed to deal with things – with brutal honesty.

"I just don't want to be left behind because I'm too young. Hermione said it was really advanced magic, and I know I'm not the best witch even in my year."

Harry shook his head. He'd been expecting something like this. "I think you're a better witch than most of my year."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"That's not true and you know it." He sighed. "You can't deny that you are one of the most powerful witches in the school."

"Yes I can."

"Not truthfully."

Ginny shook her head. "Yes I can, Harry. You've only seen me since we bonded. I wasn't nearly as talented before this summer. I think I'm just leeching off of you."

Ah, so that's what it was. Harry smiled as warmly as he could, though he knew he was rubbish at this sort of thing. "You were distracted your first year, you can't base anything on that."

"No, you don't understand. Mum and Dad were always worried that I wouldn't get a Hogwarts letter. They didn't tell me, of course, but I overheard them talking sometimes. And Ron always did better accidental magic than I did."

Harry paused to turn over these thoughts in his head. "Even if that was true, it doesn't matter now. Even if you are getting your power from me, I don't mind at all. You're welcome to any sort of power I have."

Ginny shrugged and sighed. "Yeah, I'll probably wind up a Parseltongue too."

Harry didn't respond to that, but his feelings were probably enough. It brought about a crushing cold to think that one of his best friends might think his Parseltongue ability was a bad thing.

"I didn't mean it like that," Ginny groaned, and regret washed away Harry's insecurity. "I just wonder what other people would think. I start spending time with you, and now I'm a Parseltongue and from a pure-blood family. After what happened with the basilisk..." She let that thought hang in the air like a lethal weapon. Harry furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out."

"Find out what?"

"If you're a Parseltongue."

She suddenly looked scared. "What if I don't want to know?"

"Not knowing is a bad thing. I knew I could talk to snakes before the Dueling Club last year, but I didn't know how bad it would be to do it in front of the entire Great Hall. What if something like that happens again and you do it out of reflex?"

Ginny had to concede that point – Harry's grand unveiling hadn't been pretty, and couldn't have come at a worse time. "Why would I be though? It's not like you tried to curse me and marked me as your mortal enemy."

Harry let out a short laugh, joined by Ginny in a moment of levity. "I don't think we'll ever understand our bond and what it does, but there's a piece of me inside of you. That's reason enough to check for me."

She nodded in agreement. "So.. .er... do you happen to have a snake?"

He laughed again and shook his head. "No, but look up there." Harry pointed to the massive stone basilisk carving above the entrance to the Chamber. "Just pretend it's alive and tell it to open the door."

Ginny shifted uneasily in her chair, but she looked up and stared at the snake.

"Open."

The pair exchanged looks, one of glee (Ginny) and the other of doubt (Harry). "I don't think you want it. You have to really want to speak it for it to come out." Harry thought for a moment. "Think about how we could annoy your brothers if we can both speak in Parseltongue and they can't possibly figure out what we're saying."

Ginny smiled a little at that and turned her eyes back toward the snake. Her lips parted, but instead of the English that Harry had been truly expecting, a low hiss escaped her and the doors to the chamber began sliding apart. Ginny's gaze turned to Harry in horror as she clamped a hand over her mouth, feeling extremely frightened.

"Being a Parseltongue doesn't mean anything other than you can talk to snakes." Harry said hastily. Hermione had begun to stress that point the year before when everyone turned against him because they thought he was the heir of Slytherin. "I don't see you as any different."

Ginny didn't respond for a long while, and Harry knew that she just wanted some time. Ginny was like that – if you just gave her time to sort things out, she was usually all right in the end. Harry was still trying to work out how to tell if she really did want or need help, but he figured that would come in time.

"I feel like I want to wash my mouth out."

In spite of everything, or perhaps because of everything, both Harry and Ginny burst out laughing and the tension fled from between them. It was a full minute before either of them could look at the other without at least grinning madly, and at most bursting into another fit of laughter. When they finally calmed down, Harry allowed a small smile to rest on his lips as he felt relief wander in and between their emotions.

"So do you want to tell anyone?"

Ginny shook her head. "Can this stay between you and me?"

"Of course."

She smiled and relaxed back into her chair. "I guess I'm just going to have to deal with whatever your magic does to me."

Harry grinned. "I guess so. Don't be surprise if you start to blow stuff up – I'm pretty powerful."

Ginny laughed again at that, but there was an undercurrent of seriousness in her voice. "I hope you realize that Harry. You'll probably be as powerful as Dumbledore some day."

For the first time since entering Ginny's mind, Harry felt uncomfortable and squirmed in his seat. Hermione had said nearly the same thing on other occasions, and it wasn't a comforting thought to have his best friends expect so much out of him. "I'm just a normal wizard, Ginny."

She shook her head. "One day you'll realize how special you are, Harry, and I hope I'm around to see it."

"Yeah, because you'll be the first to tell me 'I told you so.'"

Ginny laughed, but it seemed as if it was forced, and Harry could feel a strand of pain mixed in with her amusement. He didn't understand it, but he figured now wasn't the best time to talk about it. After Ginny didn't say anything in reply, he stood up.

"I guess we should be getting to sleep now."

Ginny nodded. "'Night, Harry."

"'Night Ginny."

He paused a moment before leaving, a little confused by her abrupt goodbye, but this was a part of her that Harry had given up on understanding. There were times like this where he said something or did something that caused her a slight bit of emotional pain, but he could always tell that she was trying to force it down and hide it. He'd asked about it once, and been brushed off like it was nothing, so he'd learned not to ask about it again. In any case, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his real dormitory, using the image of his own body to pull him back into reality. His mind refused to be quieted for a long while after that, and it was only an hour or two later before he was finally able to fall asleep.

------

The remaining time until Halloween flew by, and before Harry knew it Ron and Hermione were waving goodbye to him as they left with the rest of the Hogsmeade crowd. Ginny, of course, was standing right beside him and waving as well, but Harry got the feeling that Ron wasn't so excited about her being alone with him in the castle for most of the day. Whatever Harry might say to the contrary, Ron still seemed fixated on Ginny's old crush and couldn't seem to decide if it was safe to leave Harry and Ginny alone in the same room together. Harry thought it best not to tell Ron about the anti-dementor lessons that Ginny had pressed him into taking her to.

"You ready to go?" Harry asked, though he hardly had to. Ginny was a mixed ball of excitement and nervousness, meaning that most of her thoughts were centered on the upcoming lesson. She was feeling much the same as he was – both wanted to be able to fight the dementors and get rid of them, but they also remembered that Hermione had said that it would be really advanced magic. What if he wasn't strong enough to fight them? Would he just pass out every time one of them came near?

"Harry?" Ginny was tugging on his arm back toward the Entrance Hall with a slightly concerned look. "You all right?"

Harry shook his head to clear it. "Yeah. Just thinking." He began walking with her in silence, his thoughts drifting back to that first encounter. It wasn't just for himself that he wanted to learn how to fight the dementors – he knew Ginny had problems with them too, and perhaps even more problems than he did. At least he couldn't have done anything about what he remembered; she had to remember the chamber, and even though she'd come to accept it and move on, she still took her share of the guilt for trusting and pouring her heart into a diary that could talk back.

Harry would have walked past Professor Lupin's office if Ginny hadn't nudged his arm and pointed it out to him. She still felt concerned, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what she was worried about. Harry tried to put it out of his mind as he knocked on the door and heard a soft invitation to enter.

"Hello Professor."

Lupin looked up from a book that he was reading and smiled. "Hello, Harry." His eyes wandered over to Ginny. "And Miss Weasley." He nodded at the redhead.

Harry took a breath and steeled his resolve. The worst that could happen was that Ginny had to leave – though that wasn't a very comforting thought. "I know you only agreed to teach me how to fight off the dementors, but is there any chance that you could teach Ginny how too?"

Lupin set his book down and leaned forward in his chair with his forehead creased in thought. "I don't mind teaching the both of you, if that's what you really want, but it might be a little problematic. Miss Weasley, do you by chance know anything of boggarts?"

She nodded. "They're a dark creature that becomes your worst fear when they see you."

Lupin looked mildly impressed. "Do you know what shape your boggart would take?"

Ginny closed her eyes and thought for a very long moment. Harry wondered why Lupin was asking her this, but he waited patiently and assumed there was a good reason.

"I – I think it would be a dementor. I don't think it could be anything else – they make me relive anything else that I can think would scare me more."

Lupin nodded and stood. "I procured another boggart for us to practice on. Because it will turn into a dementor when it sees either of you, we can get a realistic effect without actually having a dementor in the castle."

Harry wasn't sure he was pleased that Lupin had found such a good substitute, but he locked his jaw and fought down the fear that was already causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand. He and Ginny still hadn't discussed what happened in that first encounter with the dementor, and for the first time, Harry wondered if it was such a good idea to take the lessons together. Then again, if Ginny randomly passed out in the Gryffindor common room because he was near a dementor, that wouldn't be good either.

He felt Ginny clasp his hand as Lupin lead them to another classroom, though for her sake, he didn't pull away from the contact. He barely noticed anyway; all of his thoughts were preparing for the lesson ahead. It would be bad enough if he was alone and only had to face his own nightmares, but this was also about Ginny and hers. It seemed that a lot of things that were individual issues (nightmares, feelings, etc.) were quickly becoming shared between them no matter how they felt about it.

The trio arrived in the classroom a couple minutes later. It wasn't hard to figure out where the boggart was – there was a big case on Professor Binns' desk that began shaking violently as they entered the room. Lupin turned to them and pulled out his wand, a second later mirrored by Harry and Ginny.

"What I'm about to teach you is beyond Ordinary Wizarding Level magic. Even for students that go on to take NEWT level Defense Against the Dark Arts, the Patronus Charm is very difficult and even accomplished witches and wizards have trouble with it. I do not expect either of you to be able to produce a corporeal Patronus by the end of this lesson, or even by the end of this year. That said, even an incomplete version of the charm can ward off dementors long enough to get to a safer location or summon help." Lupin's eyes moved from Harry to Ginny and back again, both who nodded their understanding, though Harry's nerves weren't calmed one bit, and Ginny wasn't faring much better.

"The reason the charm is so difficult is it relies on happy feelings to power the spell, and requires a great deal of concentration and determination. It is one of the few spells that the mechanics have no impact on the actual casting – you could wave your wand however you want to, as long as you say the incantation and have the proper determination and feelings." Lupin paused again to allow this information to sink in, which Ginny took as a chance to ask a question.

"Is this how you got rid of the dementor on the train?"

Lupin nodded. "Yes, and that dementor knew that Sir-_Black_ wasn't in our compartment."

Harry noted the slip of the tongue and resisted throwing a glance at Ginny, as well as asking about it. He figured now wasn't the time, though he did file it away for future reference.

"The incantation for the charm is _Expecto Patronum._ When you begin casting, concentrate on the happiest memory you can think of and remember what that felt like, and then push those feelings through your hand and out of your wand."

Harry's eyes shifted over to the rattling case. "Can we try it without the boggart at first?"

"Of course. You want to give it a try?"

Harry nodded and gripped his wand tightly as he cast about for a happy memory. Surely the realization that he would be leaving the Dursleys' would be happy enough. He concentrated on the feeling that he had when Hagrid told him he was a wizard and said, "_Expecto Patronum!_"

A silvery wisp of gas shot out of his wand, spreading as it got farther and forming a small blob in front of him. Harry felt a little disappointed, but apparently Lupin didn't share his sentiments.

"Excellent, Harry. Not bad for a first try. Miss Weasley?"

Harry noted the difference in how Lupin addressed him, again, but he didn't mention it. There was something about the old Defense professor that didn't add up, but he pushed the thoughts away as Ginny cried, "_Expecto Patronum!_"

A thin line of silvery gas shot out of her wand, though it was nowhere near what Harry's was. He felt resignation from her, but it was hard to comfort her when Lupin was still smiling and offering his compliments as he walked over to the case on the desk.

"I think we can try it with the boggart now, with the two of you. It should be easier than just one, since you'll have it outnumbered."

Harry wondered how much of that was truth and how much was Lupin's way of boosting their confidence, but he grasped his wand and prepared himself. He remembered his first trip through Diagon Alley and seeing the wizarding world for the very first time and focused on the pure joy of it as Lupin pulled open the case.

The cold was immediate and crippling. It was like the train had been, but worse. Harry felt his vision begin to black at the edges even before he registered the tall, cloaked form rising from the case and the lamps in the room extinguishing in a rush of darkness. It took him a moment to bring his wand to bear and cry "_Expecto Patronum!_" just as he heard Ginny doing the same. A silvery something appeared in front of them as they continued to incant over and over in unison, their voices creating a gentle harmony before a woman's scream pierced their ears and the classroom faded.

_"Not Harry! Not Harry! Please, I'll do anything!"_

_"Stand aside, girl!_

_Green light flashed –_

_"N-No! You can't...please! I'll do anything if you leave him alone!"_

"Harry!"

He jolted awake, noting that the cold presence of the dementor was gone and he was sweating profusely. With great effort, he was able to sit up and look around, though his eyes locked on the semi-conscious form of Ginny next to him. She was coming around as Lupin shook her, though she appeared deathly pale, looking ever worse than Harry felt. As soon as her eyes found him her tears began to fall and she buried her face in her hands. Harry knew who the three voices had belonged to, though he'd never mention the third one to Lupin.

"Sorry about that," Harry said, for lack of anything else better.

"Are you all right?"

"I am..." Harry said, but one look at Ginny conveyed his meaning. She'd gotten control of her tears remarkably fast, but she was still wiping her eyes and avoiding looking at either of them. Harry pulled himself up to lean against a desk as Lupin offered them both chocolate frogs, which Harry wolfed down immediately. Ginny didn't seem so inclined, so Harry tried to give her a moment to recover.

"I heard my Mum. And Voldemort, that time."

Lupin's eyes turned sharply toward Harry. "If it's too much, I understand –"

"No!" Harry exclaimed, and Lupin looked a little surprised by his outburst. "I'm not going to just drop dead every time I get within fifty meters of a dementor!"

"All right then... You might want to pick a different memory, that one doesn't seem to be strong enough."

Harry racked his brain as Lupin helped Ginny up, after she'd somehow got the chocolate frog down. Finally, he decided on his first broom flight, hoping that the soaring sensation he got whenever he picked up a broomstick would produce something better than a cloud of gas.

Ginny said nothing as she stood up shakily and gripped her wand with white knuckles. Harry was forced to follow, even under the concerned gaze of Professor Lupin.

"Are you ready?"

Harry nodded and Ginny gave a very slight incline of the head. Lupin popped the lock on the case and the dementor rose once again as the lights in the room dimmed and Harry felt every hair on his neck, arms, and legs stand on end. He and Ginny began chanting again, still in unison, and a vague wall of the silvery gas formed in front of them. For a brief moment, Harry nearly cried out in joy as the dementor hesitated, but then with a rush of air and a violent chill, the silvery wall faded along with the rest of the room.

_"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go, run! I'll hold him off –" A violent sound and a crash later, a door burst open in front of Harry –_

_"Not Harry...please...anyone but him..."_

"Harry...wake up!"

He would have jolted awake again, but there wasn't much energy left for the jolting part. The room slowly came into focus as Lupin crouched over him.

"I heard my dad this time. H-He tried to hold him off and give my mum time to run." Suddenly, Harry felt tears running from his eyes and bent over to wipe them off, hoping Lupin just thought it was sweat. The professor had the grace to reach over to Ginny and shake her awake so that Harry could face him with a dry face.

"You heard James?" Lupin asked, looking uncharacteristically pale.

"Yeah..." Even in his confused state, Harry wasn't going to miss the implications of the question. "You knew my dad?"

Lupin nodded slowly as Ginny made a soft moaning noise. "I – I did, as a matter of fact. We were friends at Hogwarts. Listen, Harry, I don't think it would be such a good idea –"

Whatever wasn't such a good idea, Ginny cut him off. "No. I want another try."

Lupin blinked, obviously not used to Ginny's stubbornness, nor was expecting such a strong voice from someone who'd just passed out twice in a row. Harry and Ginny helped each other stand under the watchful eye of their defense professor, who looked as though he was being forced to do something he knew he really shouldn't.

"One more go, and then you both will go get some rest?"

Harry and Ginny nodded their agreement, and with one last look of reluctance, Lupin opened the case once more.

"_Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum! EXPECTO PATRONUM!_" Harry and Ginny cried together, and it seemed to be working. A nearly solid silver wall was forming in front of them, and the dementor glided backward slightly at the sight of it. Harry felt as though someone was draining his life through his fingers, but he focused on the first time he'd ever caught a snitch in a real match, and held onto that memory for his life. Finally, Lupin stepped in front of them and with a loud _crack!_, the boggart vanished back into the case and the silvery wall faded out as they collapsed into the nearest chairs.

"Excellent! That was brilliant work! Much more than I expected for the first time." Lupin handed them each half a bar of Honeydukes' best chocolate. "Eat this, all of it, or Madam Pomfrey will be after my blood."

Harry and Ginny were able to finish off the chocolate in silence, though Harry hardly felt like walking back to the common room. For the first time since starting, his and Ginny's eyes met and he felt a flood of emotion like nothing he'd ever felt before. He wasn't even sure who was feeling what anymore. It felt as though they were one person and they were just feeling everything in perfect harmony, each of their feelings reinforcing each other. Slowly, they built up a core of warmth and protection, each drawing on their desire to protect the other. Lupin gave them a bit of a funny look as they stared at each other, but he didn't comment and Harry didn't offer an explanation. Finally, Harry stood on legs that felt like pudding and offered his hand to Ginny, who gladly accepted the help.

"Do you two think you can get back to Gryffindor Tower on your own?"

Harry nodded, acutely feeling Ginny's indignation and almost hearing her thoughts even though she wasn't talking to him. "We'll be all right. Thank you for helping us."

Lupin looked as though he wanted to debate how much he'd actually helped them, but he ushered them out of the classroom and walked with them part of the way toward the Tower before Ginny gave him an annoyed look. True, Ginny did have to lean on Harry a bit to keep from falling over, but Harry suspected that wasn't so much a need as a comfort. Either way, he was too tired to suppress the comfort he got from her close physical presence.

------

They eventually did make it back to the common room, though it was a near thing. Harry barely noticed as Ginny collapsed half on top of him on the couch in front of the fireplace, both of them too exhausted to do much else. They sat in silence for nearly fifteen minutes, recovering. Finally, Ginny shifted slightly away from Harry and turned to look at him, her eyes meeting his as she spoke.

"We need to talk about that."

Talking about it was the last thing that Harry wanted to do. He'd just spent fifteen minutes hoping that she wouldn't bring it up, that she wouldn't remind him of how much sounded like his mother. He wondered if she'd noticed it too, or if she was too frightened to pick up on it.

When she didn't let his eyes go, and when he felt her stubbornness start to kick in, he knew it was a losing battle to try and ignore it. "When was that?"

"Down in the Chamber, before he started the ritual. He told me exactly what he was doing." Her voice was steady, unnaturally so, but Harry knew if she was forced to talk much longer it might crack and she would probably break down.

"You heard my mum and dad."

She blinked rapidly to keep the moisture in her eyes from becoming tears. "Yeah."

Harry bit back his next words, but the moment he did he knew he made a mistake. Ginny's eyes probed him inquisitively, feeling all the world the chocolate brown that was better than any chocolate he'd ever eaten, but he steeled his resolve and shook his head. "Don't worry about it."

"Worry about what?" Her tone was pressing, but there was a slight edge to it that gave Harry the nasty feeling she already knew what he was thinking.

"Please, Ginny, just leave it alone."

There was about five seconds of silence, then Ginny said, "I sounded like your mum."

Harry cursed inwardly. He supposed the wordings of the pleas were too similar for her not to notice, but he had hoped. "Being like my mum is probably a good thing. I've heard a lot of good things about her."

Ginny must have wanted to glare at him, but it came off more like a tired gaze. "Don't put this off as nothing Harry. I can feel how much it bothers you."

"Yeah, because I can't hide anything from you anymore, right?" His tone was dripping in bitterness, and he regretted it the moment he said it.

"Fine, if you want to be an insufferable prat, I'm going to bed." To her credit, she actually stood and started walking toward the girls' staircase before Harry stopped her.

"Ginny, wait!"

She turned and folded her arms across her chest, obviously focused on staying on her feet. "Yes?"

"I didn't mean it, I'm sorry. It-It's just private, you know?"

Ginny shuffled back over to the couch and sat with a good bit of distance between them. "I know, and I wish you could keep it to yourself. I don't exactly want to let you hear what I do."

Harry nodded and leaned back into the couch as he closed his eyes. "I don't know how many more lessons I can take like that. I feel like I've just been through two Quidditch practices."

"We'll have to, if we want to be able to fight the dementors."

"I know, but that doesn't make it any easier."

She scooted over closer to him and put a comforting hand on his arm. "I-I don't mind if you see those memories. I really don't have anything to hide from you, I just don't want you to have to deal with them."

He opened his eyes and looked down at her, freezing for a moment when he saw her earnest face and soft, warm eyes looking up at him. There was comfort to be found in those features, something that didn't quite add up in his head but made him feel better all the same.

"My mum had red hair too. It was darker than yours, but it was still red. I... I can't help but think if you're around me too much, you'll end up like her."

Ginny shook her head, the aforementioned hair flowing in wisps across her face. "I'm not going to die, Harry. You don't know how much I want to live. I've never told anyone this, but I almost did after the Chamber. I – " She paused, sighing. "I didn't want to live with what I'd done. There were a lot of nights were I just wanted to die and get everything over with, and even after I went home, there were those nights where I just wanted to give up. But then I started talking to you, and you showed me how much I still had to live for. I hated you for it for a while, even though I never told you, but now I really know how much I want to live after coming so close to dying."

Harry's mouth hung slightly open as Ginny spoke. He'd never known that she'd held back so much, that she'd never told him all of this. He supposed it was probably a good thing she didn't tell him, as he probably would have overreacted, but it was still unnerving to know how close she'd come to dying before she had ever become his friend. He didn't want to know where he would be without her around – certainly not as happy as he was now. He knew he should probably say something, but nothing came to mind that wouldn't sound idiotic or stupid. He finally worked up the nerve and just said what kept flying through his mind.

"I'm glad you're still here. I don't know what things would be like without you."

Ginny smiled for the first time since entering Professor Lupin's office, and though it wasn't one of her blinding, infectious smiles, Harry still found himself compelled to smile back before he laid his head back on the couch and let his body relax. Ginny must have felt it too, because she pulled slightly away and laid back as well, both of them too tire to go up to their respective dormitories. The pair fell asleep not two minutes later, and anyone who passed them couldn't help but smile at two friends who'd obviously fallen on top of each other after they'd both fallen asleep.

-------

Harry awoke a while later, and a quick time spell with his wand told him he had a half hour before the feast started. He knew he needed a shower after Lupin's lesson, but he just didn't feel like moving. It was so comfortable where he was, with the comforting weight of something resting against his side.

He froze. Something very warm and very comfortable was against his side, and he knew exactly what it was, though the thought only made him feel very uncomfortable. One quick flutter of the eyelids confirmed it – the big mass of red that was currently flowing down and across his chest and stomach was too identifiable. Another check revealed that she was still asleep, and after a minute he could feel her back moving slightly against his side as her chest rose and fell with each breath. Harry's mind spun a billion kilometers per hour trying to figure out how to get out of this predicament with the least embarrassment possible, but the only way he could imagine was waking her up.

His eyes opened once more, and this time they stayed open as he watched her sleep. She looked so content, so relaxed that it felt like a crime to wake her, and yet they now had twenty-five minutes to get down to the Halloween feast where they were supposed to be meeting Ron and Hermione.

After another few minutes of fighting with himself, Harry tore his eyes away from her soft features and pushed her off of him, hoping that would wake her without too much trouble. It was a huge surprise when she didn't wake; instead, she simply made a soft noise in her sleep and readjusted to lie back against the couch once more. Harry breathed a huge sigh of relief and gingerly stood, afraid of waking her even though she apparently slept like a rock.

He considered waking her once he stood, but something about how peaceful she looked, about how her face and body was so relaxed and the gentle smile that graced her lips stopped him. After a long minute of indecision, Harry realized he simply couldn't wake her and trudged off to the boys' showers for a quick refresher before heading down to the feast.

------

After his shower, Harry found Ginny in the same position he left her, though the common room was currently filled first and second years passing through on their way to the feast. Apparently no one had thought to wake Ginny, so Harry walked silently over and took in that innocent expression on her face. It was probably the only time she actually was innocent, Harry realized with an internal chuckle. There was only five minutes before the feast, so Harry banished all thoughts of letting her sleep and called down to her.

"Ginny?"

She didn't even stir.

"Ginny!"

Apparently she slept even harder than he thought – she didn't even stir at his near yell. Harry reached out with a hand to wake her, and then paused. This was the first time he'd ever made physical contact without her asking for it, and it felt...odd. He shoved his insecurity away and shook her shoulder as he called her name once more.

"I don't wanna..." she mumbled, turning over and grasping one of the couch pillows in her arms.

"You'll miss the Halloween feast," Harry said, smiling.

Slowly, her eyes wrenched open and those soft brown orbs looked up at him as she let out a sleepy moan. "Five more minutes?"

Harry shook his head. "We have to be down there in five minutes."

"Bloody hell."

It took quite a bit of self-control for Harry not to laugh. He'd learned both over the summer and (more so) in person this year that Ginny cursed as much as any of her brothers, as long as her mum and dad weren't around. Hermione had given up trying to clean up her vocabulary – her attempts only seemed to make Ginny swear more while around Hermione. Instead, Ginny had to ignore pointed looks and the like whenever she showed exactly how much she'd learned from her older brothers.

"You coming?"

Ginny shook her head gently. "I'll be down later. I need to shower," She wrinkled her nose, causing Harry to laugh and nod.

"Sorry, I should have woken you up earlier."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "How long have you been up?"

"Half an hour."

Ginny groaned. "Well, you go on and I'll meet you at the feast."

"You sure?"

She nodded.

Harry gave her one last look before straightening his glasses and heading out through the portrait hole. For some reason his nerves were on edge and his heart was beating faster than it should have been, though he hadn't a clue why it would be. Nothing unusual had happened other than waking up with Ginny on top of him, but that wasn't important, was it? Even though Harry had convinced himself of that, he couldn't stop thinking about how comfortable she'd been laying against his side until he saw Ron and Hermione burst into the Entrance Hall, looking like they'd had the time of their lives.

------

Ginny Weasley was not usually one to let her emotions get out of control. In fact, she thought she'd controlled her emotions pretty well while Harry had stood over her with those impossibly bright green eyes, and that hopelessly adorable black hair of his, but now, as she stepped into the shower, she let the warmth and affection she felt for her best friend wash over her like the warm water from the showerhead. It wasn't like Harry would ask about her feelings – for one, he was so thick when it came to girls that she doubted he'd even notice, and two, he was feeling a bit of the same things she was. Ginny wondered who he had run into in the halls to make him feel like that, because it certainly wasn't her that did. As much as she wanted to believe she could inspire those feelings in Harry, she'd walled off that portion of her mind and pushed it down like the childhood crush it was. Last year, she'd become a professional at inventing scenarios where Harry would profess his undying love for her, and they would kiss and live happily ever after.

Unfortunately, once he had become a very good friend, such scenarios had gotten more realistic in her eyes and she'd begun dreaming of their first meeting where he would scoop her up in his arms and kiss her in front of her entire family. It had taken a while, but she'd shoved down that desire and chastised herself for holding on when there was clearly no hope.

Until now. Harry had been sleeping at the time, but Ginny had woken up in the last few hours to find herself leaning against the most comfortable, warmest, best pillow she could imagine. She'd initially been mortified to find out it was Harry she was leaning against, but after being frozen in place for a full minute, she'd begun to relax against him and drift back off to sleep. That had been the one time she'd allowed herself to slip back into her fantasies and pretended that Harry was her boyfriend and it was just another day of them sitting in front of the fire and cuddling together.

When he'd woken her, the combination of his hand, eyes, and hair had caused another flare up of her attraction to him, but it wasn't what she'd believed it was. As she washed her hair, Ginny wondered what exactly she was feeling toward him now. Showers were the one place she was honest with herself and acknowledged her feelings for Harry, though at the moment, she wasn't quite sure what those feelings were. It certainly wasn't a crush anymore – the out of control blushing and putting elbows in butter dishes was gone – but there was something still lurking deep inside of her, waiting to be released. Whatever it was, as she dressed and headed back down to the common room Ginny took a moment to retreat to her Chamber and pull the pink heart where she kept her thoughts of Harry out of the diary and place it in the back where she'd walled off a section that even she couldn't get to without a ridiculous amount of effort. She hadn't told Harry about this ability, of course, but it came in useful when she was trying to hide things, even from herself.

Satisfied, Ginny climbed out of the portrait hole and closed it behind her. With a quick goodbye to the Fat Lady, she started down toward the great hall. She'd gotten maybe halfway to the first staircase when she saw someone heading toward her.

_That's odd. Everyone should be down at the feast._

As the figure drew closer, she realized it wasn't a student at all. He had long, shaggy black hair that looked like it hadn't been cut in months, a scraggly beard that needed more than a little trimming, and his figure looked as if he hadn't eaten a proper meal in years. As his face became visible, Ginny froze, unable to even think, let alone move or scream. His eyes widened as he approached her, as if he wasn't expecting to meet anyone and had been lost in his own thoughts.

Suddenly he dashed forward, a knife in his hand and Ginny knew she was dead. Somehow, even with all of the protections on the castle and the wards designed to keep him out, she knew she would die by the hand of Sirius Black.

* * *

_**A/N:** Buwhahaha! Review or the girl gets it!_

_...Don't kill me?_

_Anyway, I'd like to thank my beta, **kiramythos**, for being a grammar nazi and keeping this story readable._


	9. Protective Instincts

**9: Protective Instincts**

"Harry!" Harry saw Ron waving him over just as he entered the entrance hall. He hadn't even had a chance to look around before they were nearly on top of him and Ron was shoving a bag into his hands. "We brought you all kinds of stuff back for you – I hope you like it."

Harry took the large bag of sweets and Zonko's products with a huge grin, though the looks on his best friends' faces was worth a lot more than a bag full of goodies. Both Ron and Hermione's cheeks were flushed pink from the cold, but they both had huge smiles and looked as though they had the time of their lives.

"I take it you enjoyed yourselves?"

Ron and Hermione shared a guilty look, as though having fun without Harry was a bad thing. "Er – it was all right," Ron replied sheepishly.

Harry rolled his eyes. "You can have fun without me, you know. It's not your fault I couldn't get my permission form signed."

Hermione still looked a little hesitant, but thankfully Ron had no such qualms. He launched into a very thorough description of the village, leaving nothing out as the three headed into the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. Harry was glad that at least one of them wasn't deathly afraid of saying they had a good time. The more time that Ron and Hermione could spend together, the more alone time he would have with Ginny. The two of them were still his best friends, but there were always limits to their company that he didn't find he had with Ginny.

Even filled with Hogsmeade sweets, both Ron and Hermione matched Harry bite for bite at the Halloween feast, though Ron did edge ahead after piling away third helpings of dessert. Harry felt Ginny shiver and knew she'd gotten out of the shower, and then blinked confusedly at himself. He hadn't really been paying that much attention to her, but knowing the moment she stepped out of the shower from a half a castle away was unnerving. It wasn't just a guess – somehow, the feeling he was getting was exactly what he felt like when he stepped out of the shower and onto the cold tiles of the bathroom.

"Harry?"

He jerked away from his thoughts and looked up, finding both Ron and Hermione giving him funny looks, though Hermione's was more questioning than Ron's bafflement.

"You all right mate? You kinda spaced out there."

Harry nodded quickly and forced a smile. "Yeah. I think it's just the anti-dementor lessons. I've been in-and-out since then." _Well, mostly out...on the couch...with your sister._ Harry didn't think Ron would appreciate it much if he said that aloud. Something tingled at the back of his neck, but Harry forced it aside to keep his attention in reality.

"Really?" Hermione's eyes danced at the mention of the lesson. "What did Professor Lupin teach you? And why would you be 'spacing out' after them?"

"He found a boggart," Harry scowled. At the looks of confusion, he added, "My boggart is a dementor, so it's just like facing the real thing if I let it go long enough. Which, I did, because I'm useless against them." Harry felt irritation surge through him at the helplessness, but he clamped down on it. The last thing he needed was to take it out on his best friends.

"What did he have you do?" Hermione pressed.

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but an image flashed through his mind's eye and a cold chill of terror raced down his spine. He didn't waste his breath or time explaining – he stood as fast as humanly possible and bolted out of the Great Hall. In his two plus years at Hogwarts, the Gryffindor common room had never seemed so far away, and the staircases had never taken so long to move into the right positions. He'd just gotten to the second set of stairs when an excruciating pain pierced the back of his head, threatening to knock him unconscious. He fought to keep running even as Ginny's presence faded into darkness in his mind. Finally, he dashed down the corridor toward the Fat Lady and nearly passed out when he saw Ginny's body face down and crumpled against the wall.

"_Ginny!_" His yell was a combination of verbal and mental, but it had no effect on her. Harry knelt at her side and checked her pulse just to be sure she was still alive – she was breathing, though her heart was beating a thousand times a minute. Harry prayed it was just the shock that had gotten to her and not something else. For the very first time, he realized how devastated he would be if she died. Tears stung at his eyes as he rolled her over to check for injuries, but there were none visible. He'd just scooped her up in his arms to take her to the Hospital Wing when Ron, Hermione, and Professor Dumbledore approached him, looking confused until they saw the way Ginny's body lay in his arms. Ron and Hermione looked horrified, while a look of concern and worry etched onto Dumbledore's features.

"Harry, I would be glad to –"

"No." Harry brushed past Dumbledore, completely ignoring the Headmaster's wand and sympathetic tone. "I'm taking her." He forced his way past Ron and Hermione as well, and the three could do nothing but follow him through the halls and ask questions that he never heard. His attention was focused on Ginny, his right arm around her shoulders bending so he could support her head with his elbow, his left wrapping under her knees and holding her so that the weight was on him and not her back. His eyes wanted to tear away from her unconscious form, but he couldn't stop staring at the way her head lolled in the crook of his elbow.

_Please...just let her be okay._

They reached the hospital wing in record time, though Harry was careful not to jostle Ginny along the way. For all it mattered to him, he'd come alone and the three people trailing him were insignificant to the point of non-existence.

"Madam Pomfrey!" Harry called as he threw open the door to the Hospital Wing. There must have been something of panic and fear in his voice, because the medi-witch came bustling out as fast as she could move. She let out a slight "Oh!" of surprise at the body in Harry's arms, and then hurried him over to a bed where he carefully laid Ginny down. The medi-witch's wand was out in a flash and casting a half-second later as various colors and shapes appeared over Ginny's body. Harry wasn't one for nervous habits, but he had to bit his tongue to keep silent and shove his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching out to Ginny.

After what seemed like an eternity, the tension lines in Pomfrey's expression faded and she gave Harry a slightly relieved look. "She'll be quite fine, Mr. Potter. All she needs is a bit of Deflating Drought and a good night's sleep. I'm going to keep her here to keep an eye on her, but she should be free to go tomorrow morning. Lucky she didn't fracture her skull – it's a good thing witches are more resilient than Muggles."

Harry paled considerably, which, considering his already ashen color, was quite a task. "Fractured...skull?" Wizarding injuries usually seemed worse than they were to those raised without the benefit of magic, but the thought of a crack in Ginny's head was horrifying, even in the magical world.

"She took quite a blow to the back of her head." As Pomfrey turned Ginny over, Harry ran a hand to the back of his head, where a dull pain still resided. The pain he'd felt coming up the staircase made a lot more sense, but it still didn't explain the image that flashed through his head. He'd seen Sirius Black lunge at him, but he hadn't seen Ginny hadn't been anywhere in his vision, and even he had, the pain hadn't come for a good half minute after the attack.

"Harry?"

He nearly jumped at the sound of his name. He'd been so lost in thought that he'd forgotten about the other three people in the room. He turned toward Dumbledore, who still had the look of concern when Harry had first seen him, but there was an odd wrinkle in his eyebrow that Harry couldn't quite place.

"Professor?"

"I don't wish to be rude, but it seems Miss Weasley will be fine. Perhaps you'd like to come to my office for a chat?"

The thought of being alone with Dumbledore was not appealing in the slightest, and when he felt a gentle presence slip into his mind, his decision was made for him. "I don't mind Ron and Hermione being present for any conversation we might have." He managed to keep most of the resentment out of his voice, though it was a near thing. He remembered Hermione telling him it was legal for Dumbledore to probe his mind, but somehow he didn't think powers granted by the International Confederation of Wizards would apply here. Even so, he slipped back into his subconscious long enough to pull everything out of Dumbledore's reach and then calmly met the Headmaster's eyes. If Dumbledore was surprised by this, he didn't show it.

"Very well. Might I ask how you knew Miss Weasley had been attacked?"

He accompanied his question with a further step into Harry's mind, and suddenly he realized that Dumbledore was only being polite because he expected to get the answer one way or another. He calmed his emotions with basic Occlumency exercises and continued to pull his thoughts away from Dumbledore. Things were so much easier when he was calm and relaxed, though his temper was threatening to take that away from him. He noticed Dumbledore's eyes were no longer sparkling like they normally did – it was discomforting, but Harry forced himself to keep eye contact. He wanted to prove to Dumbledore that his Legilimency would no longer be of use in finding out things he shouldn't know.

"I had a very bad feeling, and I knew that I had to hurry in case something had happened to her." In his peripheral vision, he noticed Ron and Hermione staring at him with slightly open mouths, as if he was doing something unbelievable. He shook it off – he knew his tone was cold and emotionless, but that was unavoidable if he was going to keep his cool and continue to keep his thoughts away from Dumbledore.

The Headmaster's brow furrowed even more, and Harry allowed himself a slight feeling of vindictive satisfaction. Dumbledore's presence in his mind paused before fading away, as if he knew that he wasn't going to find anything. "It is rather remarkable that you would have such feelings, Harry. Have you had them before?"

"I didn't know she had been taken down to the Chamber, if that's what you mean."

Dumbledore looked a little taken aback, but he recovered quickly. "So these feelings are a recent occurrence?"

Harry really didn't want to lie to Dumbledore. Everything he'd said up to this point had been truth, and regardless of his respect for the Headmaster, he had a suspicion that Dumbledore could always tell when people were lying to him. Even if that was a Legilimency-linked talent, Harry didn't want to take a chance. He hesitated before responding.

"This was the first time her life has been in danger since the incident, unless there's something I don't know about. I did hear she was in Egypt in dangerous pyramids over the summer."

Dumbledore studied him for a second, and then turned to Ron. "Mr. Weasley? Would you say your sister's life has been in danger since the Chamber incident?"

Ron looked a little shocked at being addressed, and had to tear his eyes away from Harry to look at the Headmaster as he responded. Harry had no doubt that Dumbledore was using Legilimency on Ron, but he didn't dare help. He didn't know how far-reaching Dumbledore's talents were, and even Dumbledore didn't know what was going on, Harry still felt a little wary of violating anyone like that. Harry would have sworn he heard Ron gulp before responding.

"Not that I remember, Professor."

Dumbledore fell silent for a moment, and with a start, Harry remembered who had attacked Ginny. In the rush of getting her to the Hospital Wing, he'd totally forgotten about Black, and it seemed that Dumbledore hadn't even considered who might have been the culprit. If he did, he would be searching the castle and getting the students to safety rather than fishing around in Harry's head.

He'd just worked up the nerve to tell Dumbledore when he was interrupted by a loud bang as the Weasley twins burst into the room, their voices in perfect unison.

"What happened to Ginny?"

Harry blinked, wondering how in the world they knew Ginny was here.

"I'm afraid she was attacked by a fellow student on her way down to the Halloween Feast. No permanent harm done, but she will be staying the night."

Harry marveled at how calm and soothing Dumbledore could sound even while frustrated at Harry's evasions and worried about what had happened to the youngest Weasley. His naive notion that a student had done this was laughable at best, but didn't have a chance to correct him before the twins did.

"It wasn't a student, Professor! It was Sirius Black!" George said in a panicky voice, as he and Fred stared at their sister. They weren't calmed by Dumbledore at all – in fact, they looked even more horrified than they had upon bursting into the Hospital Wing.

"He attacked the Fat Lady – slashed her portrait after she wouldn't let him into the Tower!" Fred clarified, sounding no less scared than his brother. Dumbledore's eyes widened in shock before he could control it, and then he hurried out of the room without an explanation and left Harry with Ron, Hermione, and the twins. It was a moment or two before anyone spoke.

"Does everyone but me know Ginny got hurt?" Ron said, exasperated. He threw a look at Hermione, who put on a helpless expression. She hadn't known either.

"She'll be all right, won't she?" Fred asked again, looking around for the medi-witch, who'd disappeared back into her office after dropping Deflating Draft on the lump on Ginny's head.

"She'll be fine, she just got knocked out and a concussion," Hermione said. "How did you two know she was here?"

The twins looked at each other uncomfortably, and then shook their heads. "Trade secret," Fred said.

"We were actually wondering where Harry got off to," George added, as if that explained everything. At seeing the confused faces, he sighed. "Never mind."

Hermione looked like she didn't want to let it go, but a look from Harry told her to keep quiet. He knew all about Hermione's prying for things that really weren't her business, and he didn't want her to get the twins anymore upset than they obviously were, or worse, find out something they'd all be better off not knowing.

"Why can't Madam Pomfrey wake her up?" Ron asked, breaking the awkward silence.

Everyone looked toward Hermione for an answer, who blushed and looked rather pleased at the attention, even if she'd never admit it. "I suppose she doesn't want to risk brain damage. Head injuries are really tricky, but Madam Pomfrey didn't look worried, so I guess it's all right."

The other four accepted that and looked toward Ginny again. If Harry hadn't known what happened, he would have assumed that she was sleeping. Her hair covered the remnants of the lump on her head, and it looked as though there were no other marks on her. If he'd thought about it before tonight, Harry would have expected her to be dead after five seconds with Black, let alone thirty, but apparently something had stopped him from killing her. There were no signs of a fight, so either his vision had been early, or Black had found a way to bind her without a wand. Harry would much prefer the former – he didn't want to know what might have happened to Ginny in thirty seconds of imprisonment.

After a few moments of silence, the door opened once again and Professor McGonagall entered the room. Her eyes swept over Ginny's unconscious figure before fixing the other five students with an unreadable look.

"You five will need to come with me down to the Great Hall. The Headmaster has asked that all students sleep there for their own protection." To Harry, her stern look alone convinced him not to argue, but Ron didn't seem to notice.

"But Professor, we can't leave Ginny if Black is in the castle!"

McGonagall peered at him over her spectacles. "Mr. Weasley, I'm sure your sister will be quite fine without you."

Ron looked like he wanted to argue, but he made a show of falling silent. As soon as he thought that McGonagall wasn't listening, he leaned over to Harry and whispered, "Yeah, as safe as she was when he couldn't get into the castle."

Harry didn't respond, mostly because McGonagall turned her head to stare at Ron. She said nothing, but Harry got the distinct impression she'd heard Ron's whisper. He decided that arguing with her now wouldn't accomplish anything – he'd have to find a way to sneak out of the Great Hall later to come back and sit outside of the Hospital Wing, if he had to. There wasn't any way he was letting Black get anywhere near Ginny again.

------

It was another thirty minutes before the candles and lights went out in the Great Hall, giving Harry plenty of time to plan. There were five exits from the great Hall – four side passages and the huge doors to the Entrance hall. Each of the side entrances had a pair of prefects standing on guard, presumably working in shifts with each house on one door, with the Head Boy and Girl standing in front of the main entrance.

As everyone began to curl up into their sleeping bags, Harry took one glance around and decided that the back side door on the right wall was most shadowed and closest to him. He slipped out of his sleeping bag and put a finger to his lips when Hermione asked where he was going. He told her quietly that he would be right back. He had no intentions of returning that night, but he didn't want either Ron or Hermione getting any funny ideas about following him. He could tell that Ginny was still unconscious, but he _needed_ to be there to watch over her. She'd already been attacked once tonight, and Harry wasn't going to let it happen again.

After crawling low to avoid the watchful gazes of the prefects, Harry finally made it to the wall about fifteen feet from the door. As he prepared himself for the quick succession of spells he had to accomplish and coiled his body for action, a light came from the middle of the room and shined directly at the main entrance to the hall. Harry blinked confusedly for a moment, but he didn't waste a single second more once he realized the prefects' attention was diverted. He snuck along the wall and pointed his wand at the door, which clicked softly and opened with a whispered, "_Alohamora!_" and allowed Harry to slip through undetected as the prefects stepped forward to find out what the disturbance was about.

Harry almost dashed down the hallway, but first he turned and whispered, "_Colloportus!_" to shut the door behind him, and the last thing he heard was Percy's shrill voice directed at Hermione. Harry smiled in spite of himself – it was nice to have such good friends. After whispering an unheard thank you to Hermione, Harry set off toward Gryffindor Tower to grab his Invisibility Cloak. Twice he was nearly caught by teachers who were searching the castle for Sirius Black, and only quick reflexes and sharp hearing saved him. In a way, this was what Harry grew up doing, only this time it was hiding from teachers instead of Dudley.

After what seemed like hours (but was really only a few minutes), Harry found himself face to face with what was left of the Fat Lady's portrait. Harry had to suppress a gasp of surprise when he saw that the painting had been slashed to shreds with a knife, probably the same knife that Harry had seen in Black's hand as he assaulted Ginny. Without someone there to open the door, Harry knew that getting his cloak would be impossible, so he moved off and made his way toward the Hospital Wing. Thrice more he encountered teachers (once was Filch, but luckily Mrs. Norris was elsewhere and wasn't able to smell him), but he successfully evaded them each time until he reached the Hospital Wing.

Ginny was in the same place he left her, and Harry was immensely glad he'd come. If he could sneak by teachers and get into the Hospital Wing unnoticed, so could Black. Harry found a chair and silently lifted it and placed it next to Ginny's bedside, a small thud sounding as wood hit stone. Harry looked around to make sure no one heard him, and then took his seat by Ginny's side and laced his fingers through hers. He knew rationally there was nothing he could do to help her other than protect her from Black if he came back to finish her off, but it didn't matter. He needed to be beside her, to know she was all right and be there when she woke up. He wondered why she would be unconscious this long just from being hit (he'd been hit with practice bludgers to the head from Fred and George's bats, and that hadn't kept him down long), but he supposed that Madam Pomfrey had given her a sleeping potion to get her through the night.

Harry half-expected the medi-witch to come and send him back to the Great Hall, but she never did. In fact, no one came to be with Ginny in the time before Harry slept, and with each passing minute his decision to sneak out of the Great Hall was looking more and more like the right one, and his anger at the professors for leaving her grew. Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, Harry could stay awake no longer and felt his head fall and his eyes shut as sleep finally ambushed him and took him away.

------

Ginny woke the following morning with three very odd feelings. One, she wasn't in her own bed, two, there was a heavy weight on her arm right at her elbow, and three, there were fingers entwined into her hand. She took a moment to try and remember the night before, and it all came back in a rush of images – her shower, her introspection on her feelings for Harry, leaving to go down to the Great Hall, and Sirius Black. At that thought, her eyes flew open and found that the sun was just coming up and the pre-dawn light was just beginning to filter through the windows. She realized that she was in the Hospital Wing, which made a lot of sense given the attack on her, so she turned her head to figure out what was on her arm. It clicked in her vision and in her mind like one – she felt him there through their bond, like having a warm presence right next to her, comforting her, and at the same time, she saw his head laying on her arm, with one of his hands holding hers in a loose grip.

Ginny smiled to herself and turned her head back to look at the ceiling, thinking. Obviously, Black had either been caught or force out of the castle, otherwise Harry would have been put somewhere safer. But then what was he doing here? It was clear that he'd fallen asleep next to her and his head had hit the bed (or rather, her arm), but something about him sitting by her bedside and holding her hand even while she was unconscious gave her a warm feeling that spread throughout her body. She knew that he would do the same for Hermione and Ron, but that was just Harry – he loved his closest friends with every piece of his heart. But regardless of all that, it was still a very "boyfriend" thing to do, and even if that wasn't at all what he meant by it, Ginny found herself pretending that was exactly what he was doing.

She felt his head start to rub against her arm as he stirred, and she turned her eyes back to him as his fingers moved gently between hers. She let her eyes flutter shut and stretched out with her feelings, just as Harry had taught her, and the now familiar door appeared in one wall of her mind. She'd worked on it in the past few weeks, and now it fit seamlessly into the stone walls of the Chamber while still holding that welcoming feel of a Hogwarts dormitory. She'd decorated it with red and gold and inscribed the wood with a Gryffindor lion, which reminded her of him. In her eyes, he was every bit a Gryffindor with his infinite courage, unwavering honor, and unsurpassed nobility, and she'd told him so when she'd shown him her work on the door. She hadn't come up with that description herself, of course, but even if it was printed in _Hogwarts: A History_ under the Gryffindor House section, it still could apply to Harry.

Ginny had convinced herself that her crush was long gone, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to change the heart-shaped door handle that represented her very strong feelings toward him. She knew she couldn't still have a crush on him – she had gotten control of her spontaneous blushing and butterflies in her stomach just from his presence – but there was still something different about what she felt for Harry and what she felt for everyone else, and that kept her from changing the doorknob that she was now turning.

Belatedly, she realized that Harry might not like someone just walking into his mind, so she knocked on the inside of the door, wondering if that would help. He must have felt something, because Harry's sleepy form crawled out of his bed and looked over at her. They'd discovered that their mind-selves still existed when they weren't focused on them, but after a bit of experimenting, Harry had explained that it was much like Hermione's mind-self – they were there, but they weren't aware of anything and were essentially separate entities unless they focused on it. Ginny assumed that his mind-self had been sleeping much as his real-self had, and they were both waking up with that adorable hair sticking in all directions. Ginny allowed herself two long seconds to take in his wild locks and his sleepy eyes before dragging her attention away and smiling at him.

"Sleep well?"

They didn't have to shout across their mindscapes – if she wanted Harry to hear her, he would, and vice versa. Even so, it was a little disconcerting and Ginny stepped further into the room to meet Harry halfway and flop down on the couch that he made for them.

"Not really."

Ginny turned her eyes toward him, surprised. "Why not?"

Harry shrugged. "I was too worried about you."

"You were too worried about me?"

Harry nodded, but he couldn't meet her eyes. "I'm supposed to be in the Great Hall right now, but I snuck out to come see you. They left you completely alone and I didn't want Black to come back after you. I'm glad I did, because obviously no one else came back to check on you. I was worried sick."

The bitterness and resentment in his voice was a little scary, but somehow Ginny found it comforting all the same. After all, he was protecting her when she couldn't protect herself – somehow, it was different being protected by the boy who already saved her life, and by the boy who cared enough about her to break more than a few school rules to come hold her hand through an unconscious night. It felt right.

"Madam Pomfrey wasn't here?" To be honest, she was a little disturbed as well that she would be left unprotected with a criminal running around the castle.

Harry shook his head and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Not before I fell asleep, and you know none of the teachers would have let me sleep in here."

Ginny nodded, pausing a moment to think. "So why are you here, if you thought they'd just tell you to leave?"

He shifted uncomfortably and mumbled, "I just wanted to see if you were all right."

She smiled and took his hand, and for the first time in a few weeks, his eyes showed a bit of panic at the contact. After a moment, he relaxed, but Ginny couldn't help but wonder what brought on the recession. "Thank you."

"You don't know how it felt, Ginny," Harry said, looking into her eyes for the first time. The lingering pain and raw fear was still there, but she knew it had to have been a thousand times worse the night before. "I felt him attack you while we were eating dinner – I couldn't get up to the Tower fast enough. I felt it when he knocked you out – it almost knocked me out too. Wh – When I saw you lying there... I thought... I thought he'd killed you. I –"

Ginny crawled over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, laying her head on his shoulder and whispering in his ear. "I'm still here, Harry. I'm not leaving you, I promise."

Harry sniffed rather loudly, and Ginny wondered how many tears he refused to shed. "I don't even know what to feel anymore! I want to protect you, to keep you close so that I can keep you safe, but I know that being closer to me is just more dangerous for you!"

Ginny reached down and grasped his hand, giving it a firm squeeze of reassurance that reflected the soft, comforting tones of her voice. "Harry, I'm not going to let you push me away, but I will let you protect me when I need it. You're the only one I trust to protect me and still let me make my own decisions. You can't stop me from being close to you – there will always be a part of me inside of you, just like there's a part of you inside of me."

It felt for a moment like Harry was going to push her away and storm off, but just as she was ready to let him go, his strength under her collapsed and his eyes squeezed shut in obvious refusal to cry. She didn't need the bond to feel it, though. She could hear it all in his rapidly weakening voice.

"What if that's not enough? What if I'm not strong enough to protect you?"

Ginny sighed and ran a hand through his hair affectionately, throwing all of the locks and binds on her feelings away like last week's _Daily Prophet_. "Then I guess I'll have to protect myself. You can't go through life thinking that danger is always around the corner – you'll never learn to live. You gave me my second chance after the Chamber – you showed me that I was strong enough to deal with my feelings and move on."

Harry shook his head, as defiant as ever. "Someone always wants to kill me, Ginny. I can't move on knowing death is right around the corner. I have to always be prepared to die."

That, more than anything, struck a nerve in Ginny's heart. She felt tears sting her own eyes at the hopelessness that was in his voice, at the acceptance that he was a marked man. It scared her not because he could die, but because he had accepted it and let it rule his life. She knew all about letting bad feelings rule her life, and it pained her to see Harry falling into the same trap. She was silent for a long few moments, carefully choosing her next words carefully to turn his logic back at him.

"Someone always loves you, Harry. You have to move on because you know there is always someone waiting for you that loves you and doesn't want to see you give up. You have to always be prepared to live."

His eyes shot open and Ginny nearly gasped at how beautiful they were. His tears had been fought down, but his eyes were still moist and the green shone even brighter and more magnificently than she'd ever seen. They were wide open and she thought she saw admiration in them, but she couldn't be sure at this close of a distance. It could have been shock, since he was feeling a bit of both. Whatever the reason, his jaw opened and closed as if he didn't know what to say, and then he finally settled on closed and laid his head back onto the couch. It was another long few minutes before either of them said anything, but surprisingly, Harry was the one to break the silence.

"Why do you make this so hard for me?"

Ginny looked up, surprised. "What?"

"You make it so hard for me to let go, to keep people away from me that I don't want to get hurt."

She smiled with an infinite patience, and in that moment, she understood him completely. "Because I know exactly what that feels like, Harry. You're not the only one to be attacked by Tom, and you're not the only one who has hurt people closest to you. Hermione was the only girl I might have called a friend my first year, and I caused her to be petrified. How do you think I felt when I realized it was you who had come to save me, and that you had to fight the basilisk?"

Much to Ginny's satisfaction, Harry had nothing to say to that. He could feel her sincerity, her care for him, and he could even feel that sliver of smugness that she always got when she knew she was right. And truth be told, even Harry knew she was right. She could relate to him in a way no one else could, and she had already conquered something that he'd been struggling with for a year and a half. It had never come to the surface before now, but after Voldemort tried to kill him for the Philosopher's Stone, and even more so after Tom used Ginny as a trap, Harry had decided that people close to him weren't safe. He couldn't very well push Ron and Hermione away, but he'd stopped trying to get closer to them, to open up to them. When Ginny had come along, she had been like a breath of life into a dying man. He hadn't a choice but to open up to her, and as much as his brain had screamed at him not to, he had let her in like no one else. He wanted, now more than ever, to push her away to keep her safe, but it was clear that she wouldn't let him.

"You better not be thinking about pushing me away."

Harry sighed. "Can you always read my mind?"

In spite of everything, Ginny smiled. "No, that was a guess. A smart one, but still a guess."

Harry looked like he was about to reply when his head snapped up, his ears twitching before he looked at Ginny. "Someone's here." Quickly, they both faded out of Harry's mind and returned to the Hospital Wing, and Harry's head snapped up off the bed. Ginny saw his hand snap to his neck and grinned when she realized he must have a sore neck from sleeping like he had the whole night.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry said, trying to slip his hand out of Ginny's as covertly as possible.

"Good morning Harry, Miss Weasley." He nodded at Ginny, then turned to Harry. "Might I ask what you are doing up here?"

"I wanted to see if Ginny was all right."

Ginny turned her head in surprise at Harry. His tone was nothing like it had been – there was no trace of the breakdown he'd had in his mind, and there was a cold steel edge just under the surface that startled her. She wondered where it had come from – he'd never sounded like that when talking to her, or to anyone she knew. Obviously something had happened between him and Dumbledore while she was unconscious.

"It seems she is quite fine, as Madam Pomfrey assured you she would. Why aren't you down sleeping with the rest of the students?"

Ginny watched Harry glare straight back in to the Headmaster's eyes, almost to the point of Dumbledore looking uncomfortable. "Because I wanted to make sure nothing happened to Ginny while she was sleeping." Ginny hated being talked about as if she wasn't there, but she didn't dare interrupt what was rapidly becoming a verbal duel between the Headmaster and the Boy-Who-Lived.

"I assure you Miss Weasley was in capable hands and was in no danger."

Harry hesitated for a moment, and Ginny could feel intense thinking and reluctance rolling off of him in waves. But in the end, those feelings were dominated by a sense of protectiveness that wrapped around her like a warm cocoon even as Harry's response was frigid.

"Really? Because I didn't see anyone near here last night, or obviously they would have sent me to bed."

Dumbledore looked down at Harry as if he was speaking to a small child, and his tone reflected it. "I assure you, Mr. Potter, that this room is protected by more than physical beings."

Harry snorted. "Yeah, bloody good job they did keeping Black out of the castle."

Ginny's eyes turned as big as dinner plates and stared at Harry as if he'd gone mad. Regardless of him being right, he was way out of line and shouldn't be talking to the Headmaster in such a way. Even Dumbledore seemed surprised by the dark bitterness that laced his accusatory tone.

"If the protections we can provide are not sufficient, then what more can you do? It would not do to throw your life away meaninglessly."

Ginny suddenly felt outright anger flowing off of Harry, so much so that she started to feel angry at the Headmaster herself. She knew Harry's feelings could influence her, but she'd never felt a compulsion this powerful before.

"I would gladly give my life if it meant a chance at saving Ginny's. I'll decide if my friends are _meaningless_ or not. And I might add, three first years passed through the combined protections of Hogwarts best professors, so perhaps there would have been something I could do that the castle couldn't."

Suddenly, Ginny realized this was a turning point in Harry's life, and that she was the cause of his separation and growing dislike of Dumbledore. She didn't want Harry to alienate the Headmaster because of her, but she couldn't think of a way to combat him because all of his statements made sense. Only one thing came to mind, and when Dumbledore looked stricken and unable to reply, she took it.

"Harry, Professor Dumbledore did the best he could. You can't ask anyone for more than that."

He looked up at her with mild surprise, but given his connection with her, he probably understood what she was trying to do. She reached out and took his hand again, their eyes meeting in a mutual understanding, and Ginny felt Harry's anger slowly die, though there was no remorse in him, as there wasn't in her. She was angry with the Headmaster for a number of reasons as well, but a shouting match and accusations, regardless of how accurate, wouldn't get any of them anywhere in the Hospital Wing. She turned toward her Headmaster with a forced smile.

"Professor, did Madam Pomfrey say if I could go?"

Dumbledore looked as though he snapped out of a trance, and then glanced over at Ginny. "I have not spoken with her since you were brought here last night. I shall go find her and tell her you are awake." With that, he turned with a swish of his robes and exited the room. Ginny immediately turned to Harry.

"Did you really have to do that? I agree with you, but you don't want to have Dumbledore angry with you."

Harry shook his head. "Yes, I had to."

"Why?"

"Why?! Did you not hear him? He called you meaningless!"

Ginny closed her eyes and rubbed them, feeling the beginning of a headache coming on. The morning had already been emotional enough for her, and she didn't want to get into a row with Harry over something that they agreed on. "That's not what he meant and you know it. I think you're just being protective." Her voice tilted up at the end and she grinned, hoping to make it obvious she was teasing him.

"Am not."

Ginny snorted, causing a very reluctant smile to cross Harry's face. "Yes you are Harry, and it's very sweet. I like having someone I can trust protect me."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Really." He didn't sound as though he believed her for one second.

"Yes Harry, really. I love my brothers, and I trust them, but I don't trust them to let me be myself. You're different. You're always encouraging me to be myself and make my own decisions, like how you helped me through Tom. I know I never told you, but it meant a lot that you let me deal with most of it my own way, and just helped me along when I needed it. My brothers or my mum would have forced me to talk about it, and that's not how it works. I can talk about it all I want now, but when I was getting over it, I just needed time and support."

Harry's mouth opened and shut, and then opened again. "But you don't like people protecting you – you tell me all the time how much it annoyed you that your brothers treated you like a baby."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You really don't get it, do you? You don't treat me like a baby."

"That's because you're not! There's nothing special about that. I'd have to be blind and stupid not to realize that."

Her eyes danced with mirth as Madam Pomfrey entered and gave Harry a reproving look, but the matron didn't say anything. Ginny could feel how infuriated Harry was at trying to understand her, and she supposed this was one of those things that would take time to sink in. She'd been reluctant at first, to let him in and talk about Tom, but after the night he'd let her help when he ran away, and how he treated her like she was an equal and not a little sister, she'd found that his occasional protective instinct didn't bother her. He didn't notice he was doing it, of course, but it was a part of his personality and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Of course, the events of last night and this morning had brought out that protective side of him with more force than Ginny had ever expected. Her mind drifted back to her comparison to a boyfriend watching over her while she slept, and decided that wasn't it at all. It wasn't even a husband watching over a wife. It was more of a Soulmate watching over his other half, and though the thought came out of nowhere, she knew that was the exact way to describe it, capital letter and all. She and Harry had thrown around Hermione's name for their connection affectionately and with good humor, but for the first time, Ginny wondered exactly how right their bushy-haired friend was. It seemed that she was always more right than anyone wanted to believe, and Ginny wondered if this wasn't another one of those cases.

"You were very lucky Miss Weasley – you're free to go. Try not to wander alone in the halls."

Ginny bounced out of bed, but a wave of seriousness after Pomfrey's suggestion made her pause. She turned to look at Harry. _No, you're not following me every time I step out of the common room. I can take care of myself._

_Ginny..._

_Harry, no. Remember what I said about treating me like an equal. You wouldn't like it if I followed you everywhere._

_Actually, I would –_

_Don't even go there._

_Fine._ He sounded as though he meant to say it bitterly, but it came out more resigned and accepting than anything else. Ginny smiled to herself – Harry might be able to hide his true feelings and self from a lot of people, but he would always be an open book to her.

------

"Harry! Ginny!"

Hermione waved them over at breakfast, looking mostly excited to see them, but Harry didn't miss the accusatory look she gave him after calling their names. He followed Ginny over to the Gryffindor table and sat next to her across from Ron and Hermione, immediately diving into his plate and avoiding Hermione's eyes.

"What happened last night?"

Harry's ears perked up – he actually hadn't heard Ginny's side of it, now that he thought about it. He was burning to know what happened in the time between the attack and when Black had knocked her out. After thinking about it for a long while last night by her bed, he thought he had an explanation for why he hadn't seen her in his vision, but he wanted to run it by her some time when they were alone. As she began her tale, Ginny's hand snaked into his under the table, and he held it in understanding and support.

"I was coming down from the Tower late and I ran into him when I was halfway to the first staircase. He looked surprised to see me, and then he jumped at me. I thought I was going to die because he had a knife in his hand, but he just held it to my throat and asked me over and over for the password. I wouldn't give it to him, and so I thought he'd kill me, but he didn't. He kept asking for the password and I didn't give it to him, so he knocked me out, I guess. I just remember the knife going away and then waking up in the Hospital Wing." She paused for a moment, as if trying to figure something out. "He asked me where the rat was at first. I thought he meant Harry, but when I told him he was down in the Great Hall eating dinner, I think it just made him angrier. I can't figure out what he really wanted, other than the password."

Hermione looked confused, though she didn't even seem to notice the last half of Ginny's explanation. "Why didn't he kill you though? It's not like he doesn't already have a life sentence in Azkaban..."

Ginny's hand tightened around Harry and he felt her body tense up. He didn't need the connection to know how that must have felt to hear. He turned an icy glare toward Hermione, who faltered.

"I really don't think that was necessary, Hermione."

The bushy-haired witch blinked again, and the looked at Ginny with wide-eyes. "Oh! I'm so sorry Ginny! That was terribly insensitive of me."

Ginny nodded, but didn't say anything. Ron's eyes were shifting between Ginny and Harry, as if he was trying to figure out something but it just wouldn't come to mind.

"Where did you run off to last night?" Ron asked, looking at Harry.

Harry glanced at Ginny, but it was Hermione who responded.

"He obviously went to see Ginny."

Harry sighed. This was not turning out to be a good breakfast, and he hadn't even started eating yet. "How many points did Percy take from you?"

Hermione turned a very light pink. "Twenty."

"Thanks for covering for me. I don't know if I could have done it myself."

Ginny threw him a questioning glance, but it went unanswered as someone walked up behind them, with two bigger people behind that person. Harry felt a flash of irritation, which was only mildly offset by a squeeze of Ginny's fingers.

"I suppose Black really wants to make a clean job of it this time. Getting the girlfriend and all."

Harry turned and glared at Malfoy, who had an impressive sneer that he likely copied from Snape on his face. "Go away Malfoy, unless you want to get hexed. I'm not in the mood."

If anything, Draco looked even happier at that. "I don't blame him, really, if you're with a Weasley. What, with their talents, wouldn't want any unexpected baby Potters –"

"_FURNUNCULUS!_" Harry roared, whirling and putting his wand on Malfoy before the Slytherin could finish his sentence. Harry's wand issued a tremendous bang that echoed throughout the hall and was accompanied by a bright flash of light. Malfoy was blasted all the way back onto the middle of the Slytherin table, nearly crushing a seventh year under him as he landed. His whole body broke out in huge boils that looked to be excruciatingly painful, and the moans that escaped Draco's mouth said no different. Harry looked down at his wand, back at Draco, then up at Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape, who were hurrying towards him. He laid his wand on the table and looked down at the floor in a sign of submissiveness.

"Potter, I never –"

"You should be expelled –"

"I will handle this," Dumbledore cut across both Snape and McGonagall firmly, quieting them. Harry didn't bother looking at anyone. Snape would be glaring furiously at him, and McGonagall would have an expression of shock and disappointment, as would Dumbledore, with a touch of sadness.

"Severus, if you could escort Mr. Malfoy up to the Hospital Wing?" Dumbledore's tone suggested that it wasn't a request, and Snape left without a word, though Harry could feel the man's glare of loathing on him the entire time. "Harry, would you care to explain your actions?"

"No, Headmaster. It was an unprovoked attack on a student and I take full responsibility for it."

The Great Hall had never seen anything so quiet. Someone dropped a fork on their plate two tables away and it echoed almost endlessly in the silence.

"Very well then. Fifty points from Gryffindor and detention every Thursday in my office until I say otherwise." Harry nodded and noted the severe disappointment in the old Headmaster's eyes, but he ignored it. Dumbledore turned and walked rather slowly back up to the staff table. McGonagall still had her calculating look on him, which made Harry wonder if he was going to get punished further.

"I would like a word in my office after breakfast." She turned and walked briskly up to the staff table, leaving Harry with the eyes of every student in the Great Hall. Eventually he turned and sat down, almost burying his face in his food. He knew the other Gryffindors would be angry about losing fifty points, but the idea of detention in Dumbledore's office was something he never considered, and quite frankly, it disturbed him.

"Why didn't you tell him what Malfoy said?" Ron whispered under the cover of slowly returning breakfast conversations.

Harry shrugged. "It wouldn't have mattered. Unless he attacks me first, they're not going to care what Malfoy said." He picked up his wand and put it in his robe pocket, conscious of the stares he was receiving. He moved his eggs around his plate with his fork, but he had lost his appetite and just was wasting time until people started leaving and he could go get grilled by McGonagall.

"Thank you, Harry." Ginny said, nudging him with her shoulder. He turned to look at her, confused.

"For what?"

"For standing up for me. I wish you hadn't done it in exactly that way, but it was nice."

Harry wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. "It's nothing." He knew she didn't really mean that – she would have much rather stood up for herself – but he appreciated the attempt all the same. He went back to swishing his food around, but they couldn't seem to leave it alone.

"That was an impressive bit of magic," Hermione observed, surprising Harry the most of the three of them. He might have expected Ron and Ginny's reaction had he thought about it, but he'd thought Hermione would tell him off for breaking the rules.

"Thanks, I guess."

The rest of breakfast was silent for the quartet, and nothing felt better than when Harry was able to leave for McGonagall's office. He knew it wouldn't be pleasant, but whatever awaited him had to be better than what he was leaving behind. Even Ginny's comfort made him feel worse. It wasn't that he regretted attacking Malfoy, or that he wished he wasn't punished, but it was the attention that the attack brought to him was what got to him the most. Hate from the Slytherins he could deal with, but he knew almost all of the Gryffindors would be giving him the cold shoulder, and that would be bad enough without Hermione, Ron, and Ginny's sympathy. That was probably the worst – he didn't want nor deserve their sympathy. It was his choice to attack Malfoy and he didn't want anyone to try and make it look any better than it actually was.

The trek up to McGonagall's office was a lonely one, even if he had his three best friends walking beside him. He tried to ignore the comfort Ginny was trying to feel for him over their bond, but it was literally impossible now that they were connected so closely. He threw her a warning look, and while she looked a little hurt, she nodded in understanding and stopped trying to force her feelings upon him. When they got to McGonagall's office, Harry closed his eyes against the sympathetic looks and entered, only opening them when he could fix his eyes on the wooden desk in front of him. He knew from a glance that McGonagall was seated behind it, but he tried to keep his vision as far from her as possible.

"Sit down, Potter."

He complied and picked a spot on the floor to stare at, about halfway between his feet and the desk. Harry wondered if she was attempting to use the silence as a weapon against him, and if she was, it was working. All he wanted was to get his reprimands and go find some place to be alone, if such a thing was possible for him anymore. After what seemed like a few eons, McGonagall's voice sounded in his ears.

"What did Mr. Malfoy say to you before the incident?"

Harry shook his head. "Nothing important."

"On the contrary, I believe it is very important to know what precipitated such a brutal attack."

"He insulted me, it's nothing unusual. I should have held my temper." His heels started kicking the ground silently as Harry counted in his head, wondering where she was going with this.

"Regardless, I have a special interest in anything he might have said to you."

Harry looked up, surprised, and then looked quickly to the side when he saw her eyes. There was nothing accusatory, like he wanted and expected to see. If anything, they held concern and interest, two things he knew he was going to get way too much of from Hermione and Ginny when he saw them again.

"You could ask him, but I would rather not repeat it."

McGonagall was silent for a while, contemplating. "Why would that be?"

Harry shrugged. "He has a particular dislike for me, and I'm sure you know that students often say things that are not to be repeated."

"Be that as it may, you have refrained from using force against Mr. Malfoy for the past two years. What was different about this morning?"

Harry looked for an answer that wouldn't lead her to Ginny. He knew that Ginny wouldn't care if McGonagall knew what Malfoy said about her, but he wanted to avoid dragging her into this if at all possible, and that was one of the ways she could be come involved. "I suppose it all just exploded this morning."

"I daresay that was quite a curse for a third year."

Harry was silent – it was a loaded statement and anything he might say would make things worse. McGonagall peered over her glasses for a moment, studying him, then leaned back in her chair.

"Your behavior last night and this morning has been very different than your normal behavior patterns that I have witnessed as your Head of House and as your teacher. It is my responsibility to my House to watch over the students under my care, and quite frankly, I'm disturbed by what I am seeing. There must be something that I am not aware of that is motivating your recent actions, and those actions tell me whatever it is, it is disturbing you greatly."

That went down about as well as a bottle of Skele-Gro. Harry had never thought about McGonagall as someone who would watch over him, partially because he'd never had someone to watch over him, and partially because of her stoic nature. He was surprised by the fact that she could actually care about the motivations behind is actions enough to figure out that something was wrong, but there wasn't any way he would tell her what had happen. He did, in fact, know exactly what would explain everything to her. Ever since the dementor lessons and Black's attack yesterday, he'd been feeling something strange toward Ginny, and the moment he'd whirled on Draco, he'd figured it out. It was an almost compulsive protective instinct, not one he couldn't control, but one he didn't want to control. It was worth every bit of any consequences to his actions if he could protect Ginny, including from the insults of Draco Malfoy. Granted, he'd wanted to hex the bastard for a very long time, but he'd been provoked on the wrong morning.

"Nothing that I know of, Professor. I just lost my control, and I'm willing to accept the consequences for it."

McGonagall studied him a little longer, and then gave him a verbal punch to the gut. "This wouldn't have anything to do with Miss Weasley, would it?"

_Damnit_, Harry thought, perhaps a bit too loudly because Ginny asked what happened. He put her off for a moment – the last thing he wanted to show McGonagall was weakness.

"No, Professor. Ginny is my friend and I was scared when she was attacked, but I would have done the same for Hermione or Ron."

McGonagall raised her eyebrow. "You would have held Mr. Weasley's hand and slept by his bedside through the night?"

Harry turned furiously red even as he felt Ginny's agitation increase. _I'll tell you everything later, I promise._ She seemed mollified by that, but she still didn't feel fine. Harry figured he had two choices – he could lie and sound like an idiot, or he could tell as little truth as possible and pray nothing came of it.

"I suppose not, Professor, but I don't think Ron would appreciate me holding his hand. Ginny would."

McGonagall's lips thinned, as if she'd reached a point where she couldn't decide how to proceed. Harry wondered how long she would try to dig into his and Ginny's relationship before she would realize that he wasn't going to give anything up if he didn't have to. There was a long silence, and then as abruptly as the subject had come up, it was dropped.

"As your Head of House, it is also my responsibility to tell you that Black is after –"

"I know, Professor." Harry interrupted quietly, much to McGonagall's surprise. "I overheard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking about it in The Leaky Cauldron. I know he came to Hogwarts to kill me."

She looked a little taken aback and frowned at him, but she said nothing about it. "Then I'm sure you'll understand why you can't be out in the evenings practicing Quidditch."

Harry looked up in alarm, and was about to argue when he remembered that Ginny also went out to those practices to watch him. Her brothers were also on the team, but he knew if he didn't have to go out, he could convince her to stay inside the castle with him. He was torn between fighting for something that made him happy and doing something that would make Ginny safe, and in the end it was really no contest at all.

"Of course, Professor. I'll tell Oliver I'm leaving the team. I really wouldn't have time with Dumbledore's detention and all my homework anyway."

If Harry had ever seen McGonagall look more shocked, he couldn't remember when. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised at her reaction, but somehow Quidditch didn't seem that important when he was thinking about living or dying, especially when referring to Ginny. If it had just been himself, he wouldn't have cared about the threat Black posed, but after Halloween, Harry wasn't willing to take the chance on Ginny.

"Well then. Unless you have anything more, you're free to go."

Harry nodded. "Thank you, Professor." Harry stood and left, wondering where exactly he could go to be alone. Luckily, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had left to go back up to Gryffindor Tower, which Harry confirmed with a quick check of his bond with Ginny. He couldn't leave the castle, if his talk with McGonagall was any indication, and he didn't want to go see Hagrid, so that really only left his dormitory. The problem was, he'd have to go through the common room to get there, and the people he was looking to avoid would probably ambush him.

He finally decided on the Astronomy Tower since no one ever went up there in the daytime. The only real reasons that people went up into Hogwarts' highest tower was for Astronomy classes and to find place for couples to have a bit of alone time. Since Harry was seeking exactly that, he climbed all the way up and stepped out onto the stone platform that usually held a class of students and their telescopes. Like he'd hoped, there was no one up here in the hours before noon on a Sunday.

There was a light breeze blowing, and it was rather chilly, but Harry didn't mind as he leaned forward against the safety wall and looked out over the Quidditch Pitch. The grass was as green as ever, kept up by magic and looking peaceful against the stone of the stadium and the trees planted along the grounds. He let his feelings wash over him for the first time, and he realized how much he was going to miss it. He felt as home in the air as a fish did in water, but every time he thought of Ginny, his resolve steeled further and he locked those feelings deeper and deeper into his mind.

Also for the first time, he thought about what McGonagall had said about his behavior. Even though he'd told his Head of House nothing, he had felt a change inside of him the moment Ginny was attacked, and he was sure that he liked it. It was much more demanding of him, and it required him to be much more up front with himself about how much he cared for the redhead, but his protective instinct wouldn't let him get away with any less. He liked the idea of keeping her close to him, of warding her from harm, of keeping her safe even through the biggest dangers. These new feelings, however they came about, could influence his behavior pretty strongly, but Harry thought it was for the best. Perhaps hexing Draco had been a little over the top, but he wouldn't take it back for anything.

He thought about quitting the Quidditch team, and what Oliver was going to say when he told him. It might be possible to hide under McGonagall and say that he wasn't allowed, but that was the cowardly way out. Something Ginny had said in past conversation really stuck with him – he exemplified the qualities of Gryffindor house, including courage, bravery, and honor. It would be a violation of all three of those if he took the easy way out, the Slytherin way out, and that was not the way he wanted to be.

He wondered what Dumbledore would have him do in his office. After he'd hexed Draco and seen what he'd done, it made no sense to try and make excuses to the teachers. He'd have to take whatever punishment came and deal with it. Maybe that was another part of the Gryffindor honor – doing what he thought was right regardless of the consequences, even from those in authority. The only problem was, Harry wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do to hex Draco. There were other ways he could have stood up for Ginny, and they didn't even include insulting Malfoy, let alone hexing him.

He walked around the edge of the safety wall, his fingers dancing across the stone as his eyes looked out over the lake. It was calm and placid, much like his feelings at the moment. He was still attempting to understand a good bit of them (let alone Ginny's), but a sense of purpose had settled over him in the last few minutes. He'd realized that all of the stuff that he was so afraid to let go of was extra – Quidditch, free time, the ability to be lazy if he wished. He was at school to learn, to grow up, to get an education so that he could survive in the real world, not to whine about not being able to fly around on a broom for hours looking for a gold speck. He had more important things to worry about, such as keeping safe from Black and learning to protect himself and his friends. Perhaps that's why he'd latched onto Lupin's classes like a lifeline – Defense was one thing that he really wanted to learn and master so that he never had to worry about being defenseless ever again.

Slowly, Harry pulled out his wand and looked at it. Eleven inches of holly and phoenix feather, and yet, it was probably one of the most powerful objects in the world if used correctly. The sheer weight of it crashed down upon him, realizing that an eleven inch piece of wood could cause death, or even prevent it with a few flicks and words. Harry didn't know the spell that had killed his parents, and had never had the desire to find out, but he realized how much responsibility a wand really was, and how he'd come to take it for granted.

The door across the tower opened, and Harry didn't have to turn to know who it was. He knew by how close she felt, by the source of warmth that had suddenly made herself known to him, and by the way her eyes found him and allowed him his peace. He also knew, somehow, the other half of his soul had come to meet him. It was an odd feeling, one that seemed to fall out of the sky and into his head, but he instinctively knew it was right. He felt her close the door behind her and lean against the wall next to her, waiting for him to come to her. He paused for a moment and looked out over the lake, and then closed his eyes to accept the comfort she offered. A few moments later, the light breeze blew her hair across his body and he turned to smile at her, a true, genuine smile that she returned wholeheartedly.

"You know me too well."

Ginny nodded and leaned against the wall, her eyes never leaving his. Harry could see that the hard chestnut had receded behind the warm chocolate, and that sparkle was shining as bright as the sun behind her back. "It helps when I'm inside your head."

Harry turned toward the lake once more, gazing at the tree that he'd spent many afternoons under with Ron and Hermione when the weather warmed for the summer. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

The silence was companionable, and Harry realized exactly how much time alone he got. It had been refreshing to just stop for a moment and think, to clear his head of random thoughts and feelings, and to have silence and peace that he never got within the walls of Hogwarts. There was always something to do, homework to write, spells to practice, things to study, or classes to attend. After being alone and surviving for ten years of his life, he'd forgotten how important it was to have his time to think, to work out his feelings, to relax and let all the little stuff fall away. He'd done that to get through his childhood, and now that he had a world to belong to, he'd forgotten a main part of his being. He didn't know how, but Ginny seemed to understand that he needed that time just as well as he did, and she was willing to give it to him, even now, standing right next to him.

"You really are special, you know that?"

He felt her gazing into his profile, and he could almost see her brows knitted in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Harry took a few breaths to organize his thoughts and to form the words he wanted to say. She waited patiently, something that Harry marveled at. It was like time had no meaning for them, that everything would come in time and there was no sense in rushing anything. He took another breath, called the words to mind, and spoke.

"You know me as well as I know myself. You know things about me that I can't explain in words, and yet, it's an important part of me that I never would have been able to share with anyone besides you. I'm not saying you're perfect, but you're the best friend I could ever ask for, and that's including Ron and Hermione. Ron and Hermione are great, but they have their limits sometimes of how much of me they understand. I don't think you do."

Ginny's eyes moved off of him and out toward the lake, and he turned his gaze to look at her profile, which was outlined against the sun. Her hair glowed softly as the wind buffed against it, her eyes became unfocused as she thought, and her childish features were soft and comforting. It surprised him sometimes how young she was – after all, she was only twelve years old, and yet she seemed to carry herself with the grace of someone three times her age while still retaining a sliver of that innocence that showed in her smile.

"I guess that's why we have this bond between us, Harry. So we can understand each other in a way no one else can. You know I think you're special too, and not just because you can understand me. There are a lot of special things about you that no one ever seems to notice or care about."

It was Harry's turn to have the confused look, and he didn't bother to hide it. "What do you mean?"

She turned to meet his eyes with a smile that warmed the soul. Despite the cold and the wind, Harry felt something inside of him become inexplicably warm, and it seemed every beat of his heart pumped more of that warmth through him.

"You have the biggest heart of anyone I have ever seen, and that includes my Mum. I don't know how you do it with the life that you have, but the amount of love you have for people amazes me. I first saw it at the Burrow when you came to stay with us last summer. You looked so unhappy when you got there, but yet, you still found a way to make everyone around you feel appreciated. You probably wonder why I stood up for you in Diagon Alley the first day I talked in front of you. It was because I couldn't stand seeing someone talk to you like that, knowing what kind of life you've had, and how you never seem to run out of love for anyone."

Harry stood, frozen, trying to comprehend what she was saying. After a half minute of processing, Ginny smiled even bigger and shook her head.

"You don't take compliments well, do you?"

Harry shook his head to jump out of his trance. "I never had any before I came to Hogwarts."

Ginny's eyes and feelings were almost more than he could stand. She looked and felt so sad, so sympathetic that he just wanted to run away and hide, to tell her that he didn't deserve it and that she shouldn't waste her time. But something kept him there, something convinced him that only bad things would happen if he ran away.

"I wrote that explanation in the diary, once, when I was talking to Tom about you. I know now that he didn't care, but I went back and tried to remember exactly the words I wrote because it was special to me. I wasn't ever able to remember all of it, but I got most of it and filled in the rest."

Harry was unable to continue looking at her, and turned his eyes toward the Forbidden Forest, trying to wrap his mind around what she was saying. She let him think and was respectfully quiet, something Harry again marveled at. How she could tell when he just needed to be left alone was beyond him – perhaps it was a feeling that the bond told her, or perhaps she was just that good at reading people. It was another few minutes before he felt strong enough to respond.

"You make me feel about two years old."

He had no idea where that came from, but Ginny laughed and it was worth it. "I think it's the mind-visions. I have a lot of time just to sit and think about things, and when I do, I understand them better and my feelings become clear to me. No one else our age has that."

Harry turned toward her and smiled, for once knowing that he was about to make her really, really happy. "Ginny, I know you have feelings for me that I'm really not sure about, and I'm just starting to realize that I feel something for you that I don't feel for anyone else, but I want you to know one thing." He paused for effect, causing Ginny's expression to look like a cross between expectant and nervous. "You're not just a friend anymore. Whatever we may be in the future, even if we wind up hating each other, you'll always be my Soulmate."

He would have gladly emptied his entire Gringotts vault for the look on her face after the word _Soulmate_. At first it was complete and utter shock where her eyes grew to the size of quaffles, and as it sunk in, the biggest smile ran across her lips and the sparkle in her eye was back with a vengeance. She looked ready to start bouncing off the walls, but Harry decided to give her something a lot better. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her neck, pulling her into his chest even as her arms flew around his lower back. The force of her embrace nearly knocked the wind out of him, but it was worth it to feel her happiness both physically and through their bond. Unable to resist, they both laughed out loud as they embraced, for once in complete harmony with each other and knowing that at that moment, there was nothing that could ever come between them.

------

_**A/N: **Thank you all for the warm reviews for last chapter, even if I did have a bit of a slip in my taste for jokes. You didn't really think I'd kill Ginny, did you?_

_Anywho, to answer a question that I meant to answer in the last author's note - Deathly Hallows will play into this story, but you have to take it like you take all other canon - I may change and rebuild things so that my story works. The rules of the Harry Potter universe won't change, but I'm not simply going to rewrite canon and have it end exactly the same way. That'd be rather boring. So look out for changes small and large even though I'll be using all seven books for reference._

_I must make a confession - I don't like responding to reviews on ff net because of the awful way they designed it. I'll answer questions and such, but it could have been done much better, so if you're looking for a detailed discussion/response, head on over to my google group (link is homepage in profile) and feel free to start up your own topic or add onto an existing one. I keep an eye on it throughout the day._

_Anywho, thanks again to all my reviewers, both consistent (heart!) and new. I hope you'll continue to tell me what you think of my story, so that I can improve and perhaps make it even better. I even love my anonymous reviewers, and while I can't thank them personally, I can send my thanks to them from here. Now go review! xP_


	10. Extrasensory Input

**10: Extrasensory Input**

Some fifteen minutes later, Harry and Ginny came down from the tower looking as though both of them had gotten hit by supercharged Cheering Charm. Harry's expression only clouded when he remembered the conversation he had to have with Oliver. Ginny looked over at him, curious as to what could make him sad, and Harry sighed.

"I need to talk to Oliver."

Ginny's confusion increased. "Wood?"

"Yeah." He turned in the direction of the common room, already trying to psych himself up for the looming disaster. He'd been so sure when he'd told McGonagall that he would sit out, that he wouldn't needlessly endanger anyone's safety by going out and practicing in the evenings, but now he realized exactly how much he was going to miss flying.

"Why?"

"I'm quitting the team."

Ginny stopped and grabbed his wrist, causing him to spin around. "You're _what_?!" Her voice was enough to handle by itself, but with the mental weight she threw on the word he had to take a moment to gather his thoughts.

"I'm quitting the team."

"Why?!"

Harry winced. There were already people from three houses looking at them in the halls, and he didn't need any Slytherins to walk by and see him arguing with Ginny – he could only imagine what they might say then. "Because McGonagall said that it's not safe with Black running around and I –"

Her eyes flashed into that hard chestnut – Harry would have sworn that her eyes changed with her mood – and she marched off in the direction of McGonagall's office. Well, there were a hundred things in that direction, but Harry knew exactly where she was going.

"Ginny wait! It's not worth it!"

She ignored him and continued to march, and Harry wasn't about to tell her the real reason why he agreed to stay off the team. He knew he'd get the cold shoulder for that, and after the breakthrough they'd just made in their relationship, Harry didn't want to do anything to jeopardize it.

They arrived at McGonagall's office entirely too quickly for Harry's taste, and Ginny knocked entirely too loud. When McGonagall appeared at the door and after her eyes passed over Ginny and himself, Harry would have sworn he saw a faint smile on her lips, but it was gone as fast as he'd imagined it and they were invited in. Harry sat as he was offered a chair, but Ginny declined and waited for the stern professor to sit behind her desk.

"I heard an amazing story this morning, Professor. I heard that Harry Potter is quitting the Quidditch team. I was wondering if you could confirm that for me."

Harry buried his face in his hands. He knew Ginny wasn't really that angry, more shocked and appalled than anything, but she was still determined to make this as embarrassing as possible for him.

"Miss Weasley, I assure you this was a decision not made lightly. Mr. Potter and I agreed that it would be safer for him to remain inside in the evenings."

"Safer? From what, an army? Because surely you're not suggesting that Sirius Black could break into this school. And surely you're not suggesting that anyone could harm Harry with my brothers and two bludgers around."

Harry's head snapped up at the mention of bludgers and the twins. She did have a very good point – Fred and George could probably play professionally after Hogwarts if they wanted to, and were quite dangerous with bats. McGonagall paused, thinking, and then straightened in her chair.

"You make some valid points, Miss Weasley, but it is not a chance we are willing to take."

Ginny turned to Harry and gave him a withering glare. "Of all the bloody chances you've taken with your life, you're telling me you're afraid to _practice Quidditch?_"

"Miss Weasley, language please."

"Sorry Professor," Ginny said, but to Harry she didn't look the least bit sorry, and McGonagall didn't look like she had the least bit of sympathy for him. He took one look at the burning coals that were Ginny's eyes and nearly curled up into a ball.

"I want to play, it's just not safe."

Ginny rolled her eyes and turned back to McGonagall. "Professor, do you think that anyone in this school could catch Harry on a broom?"

McGonagall's lips thinned as if she was forcing back a smile. "Mr. Potter's flying skills are hardly relevant, Miss Weasley. It wouldn't be difficult for an accomplished wizard such as Mr. Black to attack with magic."

"Where would he get a wand?" Ginny felt as though she was insulted by such a suggestion. "You could have a teacher supervise practice, if you're that worried about it." Her expression made her feelings clear, but even so, McGonagall took a moment longer to think about it.

"I suppose Madam Hooch wouldn't mind supervising the Gryffindor practices. I'll ask her sometime today if she wouldn't mind."

Ginny smiled, and Harry felt her indignation settle down. "Thank you Professor. I'm really sorry about taking up your time."

McGonagall nodded curtly. "Any time, Miss Weasley. Mr. Potter, I daresay we have a cup to win – do not make me regret this decision."

Harry nodded before being dragged out of the room by Ginny, her hand around his wrist as he threw a helpless glance at McGonagall. Once again, he got the impression that she was forcing down a smile, but Ginny was too quick for him to get a good look.

Surprisingly, Ginny let his wrist go as soon as they were out in the hallway. He got about two seconds of freedom before she pinned him against the wall with surprising strength.

"Harry Potter, if I ever catch you doing something that bloody stupid ever again, I will not hesitate to rearrange your brain for you."

A passing group of Ravenclaws gave them a very strange look, and Harry had to do his best not to laugh. It was a very strange comment unless you were one of three people who knew about their Innate Occlumency. Fortunately, all he had to do was look into the fire that was in Ginny's eyes and the urge to laugh ceased.

"Ginny, it's really not worth it. Life is about more than Quidditch and having fun. You – I could die out there."

He knew the moment his tongue slipped he was in for it, but that didn't help him one bit when she turned her accusatory gaze on him. He quailed under her fury.

"So this is about me?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably, but the way she was standing made it impossible to even think about getting away, despite her smaller size. A few more students walked by, but he tried to ignore their pointing and focus on not digging a deeper hole for himself.

"No. Mostly no. I mean, I just realized that there are a lot more important things I can be doing than practicing Quidditch."

"Like what?" Her curiosity held off her anger for the moment.

He paused, wondering how to answer that. "Lessons. You know, we came here to learn."

Ginny stared blankly at him for a moment, and then shook her head, confused. "Who are you?"

Harry slumped against the wall, no longer looking for a way to break her hold and run. "It's just that after you were attacked, I realized that there are a lot more important things in life than flying around on a broom. It's fun, but it's not going to do me any good if Black comes to kill me or Voldemort comes back."

She let her grip on him soften and he felt her anger fade into even more confusion and bewilderment. "You love Quidditch, Harry. Why would you give it up? You can't study all the time."

"Maybe I'll be able to play when someone doesn't want to kill me."

Her grip tightened once more, and Harry felt his back being flattened against the stone wall behind him. "You're not going to live your life in fear, Harry. I won't let you. You already have enough things to worry about in life, and I'm not going to let you be miserable because you won't let yourself have fun."

"Do I have a choice?"

"No."

Harry sighed. He knew she only cared about him, and he knew she was probably right, but it didn't stop that nagging feeling that something bad was going to happen and he wasn't going to be ready because he'd be out having fun. It wasn't his job to have fun – it was his job to protect people, especially Ginny.

"I really don't like this."

"Too bad."

"I should be doing other things."

"But you want to play."

"Yes, Ginny, I want to play, more than anything. But –"

"No buts, Harry. Do you want to wind up like Hermione? That's what happens when you work too hard."

Harry felt a moment of indignation on Hermione's behalf, but he realized that Ginny was right. "No, I don't."

She held him against the wall for a moment longer, and then him down and brushed her hands off. "All right, now that you've stopped being an idiotic wanker," she eyed him warily, "I think we'll go back up to the common room and find Ron and Hermione. I think they wanted to talk to you."

After seeing Ginny on a rampage, Harry wasn't about to disagree, though talking to Ron and Hermione was one of the last things that he wanted to do at the moment. He walked with Ginny up to Gryffindor Tower, which was surprisingly relaxing, given the recent turn of events. It seemed Ginny was quick to flare up but also quick to cool, and by the time they were halfway there, he could hardly tell she'd been worked up about anything in the past few minutes. When they entered the Tower, he caught Ginny's eye and they shared a look of understanding – Ginny wasn't about to let him take away something he loved for a stupid reason, and Harry wasn't going to be hurt by the forceful way she went about it. The small smile they shared was quite enough to express every word they might have said.

------

Ron and Hermione were already doing homework when Harry and Ginny found them in the back of the common room. It was Sunday, after all. Harry slipped off to get his bag from the dormitory, but when he returned both Ron and Hermione looked as though they'd reached stopping points and were ready to talk. Harry had hoped that they would just let it go, but he figured the chances of that happening were slim to none. Ron took the initiative and asked the question on both his and Hermione's minds.

"What did McGonagall want?"

Harry shrugged. "She wanted me to quit the Quidditch team."

"WHAT?!" Ron looked as if someone had suddenly disbanded the Chudley Cannons and he'd lost at chess to Harry in the same day. "Why would she want you to do that?!"

"Because it's not safe for me to be out there while Black is running around the castle," Harry said, doing a halfway decent job of keeping his voice monotone.

Ron wasn't satisfied. "You told her you weren't quitting, right?"

"Eventually," Harry evaded, with a glance at Ginny. The smirk on her face wasn't helping.

"What do you mean, eventually?" Ron pressed.

Harry sighed. Ron probably wouldn't understand, but he had to try anyway. "McGonagall is right. It is too dangerous for me to be out there in the evenings and in the open. I'm surprised he hasn't already killed me."

Ron didn't seem to have an answer to that, so Harry glanced over at Hermione's face, which was calculating as usual. He raised an eyebrow at her, prompting for her input.

"I think Harry's right, Ron," Hermione said. "Quidditch isn't nearly as important as Harry's safety."

Ron looked over at Harry, his gaze almost pleading in nature. "But you're still on the team, aren't you?"

Harry shook his head. "Madam Hooch is going to supervise practices just in case. McGonagall didn't force me off."

Ginny coughed, as if to prompt him to tell them the whole story, but he would never divulge that information. It was bad enough that he agreed to be kicked off at first – but having her be the one to fight for him was downright embarrassing. Unfortunately, she wasn't about to let her part in it go.

"You better watch him though; he might sneak off the team when you aren't looking. He was about to go talk to Oliver and quit before I knocked some sense into him."

Ron gave him an incredulous look. "You were?"

Harry nodded as Hermione fixed him with an unreadable gaze that brought vague feelings of discomfort. "I was about to come back here to find him when Ginny found me." He hoped that she wouldn't go into detail, but apparently his embarrassment wasn't quite over with yet.

"He means I had to drag him back down to McGonagall's office and talk some sense into both of them."

Ron looked vaguely impressed, and the unreadable expression from Hermione never changed. Harry was dying to have her interrupt the conversation with something sensible, but she only made it worse.

"It must have been quite a conversation to take that much time."

Harry's eyes snapped over at Ginny and met her gaze head-on. They held each other for a moment, and then looked away with pink tinge to both of their cheeks. Harry couldn't help but glance up and notice that Hermione's smile looked rather smug. Silence hung in the air, the obvious question silently ticking like a bomb nearing detonation. Finally, Ron asked it.

"So where were you two?"

Luckily, Harry was good at thinking on his feet and laid the burden of explaining onto Ginny. "I was at the top of the Astronomy Tower when Ginny found me. I don't know where she was before that."

_Oh, that was nice,_ Ginny said indignantly as Ron and Hermione's eyes turned to her. "It took me a while to find him – the Astronomy Tower was the last place I was going to look before going down to the dungeons."

Ron laughed and Harry forced a passable impression of amusement, but he could tell that Hermione was in research mode. He needed to say something now, before someone figured out that he and Ginny had been up in the Astronomy Tower, alone, for a relatively long period of time. While he wasn't afraid of being accused of anything indecent, both he and Ginny had tried their best to keep exactly how close they were a secret from everyone, including Hermione. It would be disastrous if either of his best friends caught wind of the word Soulmate. After a long silence, Ron spoke up again.

"Why do I get the feeling that there's something they're not telling us?" he asked, looking over at Hermione. She gave both Harry and Ginny a wicked grin, then turned to answer Ron in her best innocent voice.

"Because, Ron, I think there is something that they aren't telling us. I think there's something that they would be rather embarrassed for us to find out, actually."

Ron's eyes widened. He was a bit thick, but he wasn't thick enough to miss how Hermione was playing with his best friend and his little sister and suggesting something that he didn't want to think about. His eyes bounced between the three of them, obviously confused, so Harry took the chance to get away.

"Well, I'm going to write over by the fire. It's a bit chilly in here." With that, he picked up his bag and moved quickly over to the couch, pulling out his copy of _Numerology and Gramatica_ before anyone could protest otherwise.

_Really sneaky Harry._ Ginny didn't sound all too pleased with him, and Harry didn't bother to keep the victory out of his voice.

_Don't come over here, or they'll really know something's up._

Ginny scoffed silently. _And what if I want to be with my Soulmate?_ She loaded all the affection and caring she could muster into the last word, nearly overwhelming Harry with good feelings, pride, and joy. It took him a moment to work out the warm shivers that were involuntarily squirming through his body.

_You just like saying that._

_Saying what?_ Harry couldn't imagine how she pulled off innocence, but her voice would have been a perfect example of it if he didn't have an inside connection to her real feelings.

_Soulmate._

Ginny smiled internally, so that they both could feel it. _I'm sure Ron and Hermione would be very interested to hear it._

_You wouldn't dare._

_Wouldn't I?_

Harry hesitated. As much insight into her feelings as he had, this was one thing he could never pin down about Ginny Weasley. She always had this devilish side that he couldn't figure out. When she got that mischievous tone to her voice and playful glint to her eye, his guess was as good as anyone's as to what she was up to.

Instead of rewarding her with a response, he went back to his Arithmancy homework and tried to focus. He knew it would be pointless if Ginny made any more efforts to distract him, but surprisingly, she fell silent and was content to ward off Ron and Hermione's questions on her own, and then start in on her own homework. He wondered vaguely what she'd told his two best friends about him to get them off the subject, but he found that it didn't matter once he'd waded into the frustrating world of numbers. He was starting to get it better and his and Hermione's study sessions were getting shorter, but there was still something vexing about the subject that just didn't want to go into his brain.

------

Ginny, much to Harry, Ron, and Hermione's consternation, took almost no time to finish her homework. It seemed that she'd grown another brain over the summer and was even faster than Hermione to get things, even if she hadn't even touched the book before class. There were some of the more obscure things that she didn't get so easily, but it seemed that she was rapidly becoming the smartest witch in second year. Harry noticed that she didn't seem to have the same aptitude for the third year material he was trying to work on, but that could be expected, given that she still had most of her second year to build the foundations for the things he was trying to learn.

Fortunately, she left Harry (as well as Ron and Hermione) alone to do their work and wandered to destinations unknown. Actually, Harry knew she was in the library, but how he knew that he hadn't a clue. He had gotten the feeling that even Ginny didn't know where she was going before she left the Tower, but there was no doubt in his mind that she was perusing the massive bookcases in the Hogwarts library. It was almost as if he could feel the bookcases themselves, as if he could see the books resting on the shelves, as if he could hear the silence that Madam Pince demanded of the students.

He shook off the odd feelings and sensations as an overactive imagination and returned to his Potions essay, which refused to be completed. He'd decided to tackle it last, hoping that putting it off would somehow make it easier, but it hadn't and here he was, digging through _Magical Drafts and Potions_ for an answer that didn't seem to exist. He had until next Thursday to complete the assignment, but he wanted Hermione to check over it with all of his other work and truth be told, he didn't want to be worrying about it at the last minute. He could work on it during the week, but that time was usually reserved for easier subjects like Ancient Runes or Defense Against the Dark Arts. Those he could do in his sleep.

After another fifteen minutes of futile searching, he threw down his quill in frustration and leaned back into the couch, prompting a questioning feeling from Ginny. He nudged her back with a splash of reassurance, one she returned with an inward smile and a nod.

The rest of the day was pretty much normal. Hermione worked hard into the night just to get all of her work finished while Harry and Ginny kept her company. Once again, Harry wanted to pull the books away from her and force her to go to bed, but after a nasty fight with Ron about Crookshanks and Scabbers, she didn't look like she was in the mood for anyone to contradict her in the slightest. Truth be told, Harry didn't feel much like upsetting her anyway.

With Ron off sulking somewhere, Harry and Ginny sat with Hermione, though they didn't speak aloud in hopes of not breaking the older witch's concentration. She'd told them that they didn't have to sit in silence, but Harry had sheepishly admitted that they weren't. That had been the only point where Hermione's frown softened since their morning conversation.

_So where did you get the idea for Soulmate?_ Ginny asked.

Harry thought about it, and he couldn't come up with a clear answer. _I don't know, really. I just felt you come out to find me, and I felt that a piece of my soul was looking for me. I know it sounds really cheesy and cliché, but that's what I felt._

Ginny reached out to assure him mentally, comforting him like she was so prone to do these days. She'd taken to the openness of their bond faster than Harry had, and there were times where even he wondered how she projected her feelings so well.

_It's not cheesy, Harry, it's perfect. When I woke up this morning, I wondered why you were sleeping next to me, but I knew my Soulmate had been watching over me. I don't know how I knew, I just did._

Harry thought about that for a moment. _Do you think the bond was telling us?_

_I don't know. I thought it was just Hermione's name for us, and it felt so right._

He shook his head, physically as well as mentally. There still were times he had trouble separating the two. _No, she never called us Soulmates. This came from us. This is special._

_Yes. _Feelings of complete agreement flowed through them. _We're special._

_No one else can completely understand us._

_No, they can't. _They were in completely harmony on that thought – there was something between them, something so amazing, something so special that no one else could even pretend to feel what they felt, or become as close as they had. They wore matching lopsided smiles on their faces, a meld of the innocent curves of Ginny's lips and the lopsided grin that Harry so favored.

Silence was enough to get them through to bed, after ensuring that Hermione made it up to her dormitory without falling asleep on her feet. Harry shot a concerned feeling at Ginny, but neither of them could figure out how to help their best friend even when it was clear that she'd bitten off more than she could chew.

After saying their own goodnights, Harry and Ginny crawled into bed in tandem, almost as if they could feel each other's movements. Each smiled at the warm feeling of their blankets, but they smiled even more at the warm feeling of each other that never quite left their skin. It was as if they each felt each other under their own skin, and it was the most natural thing in the world.

------

_I'm dreaming._

Harry knew it from the moment he woke in his dormitory. There was that ethereal feeling he'd felt only twice before, and he knew it to be the feeling of a shared dream he was going to have with Ginny. He sat up in his bed and threw off the covers, looking around and noticing that none of the other beds were present. That meant he was inside of his mind, and not dreaming about the real world.

He slid out of bed and let his feet fall to the cold stone as he rubbed sleep from his eyes and grabbed his glasses from his nightstand. The world became much clearer once he had the spectacles on, allowing him to stand and walk toward the place where the door to Ginny's mind always appeared.

Except there wasn't a door. In its place, there was an archway that perhaps two people could have fit through side by side, rounded at the corners and with nothing blocking his view into the Chamber. Before, there had always been a door there and he'd have to pass through it to enter Ginny's mind, or she'd have to pass through it to enter his. Now, as Ginny's vibrant red hair came into view on the other side of the arch, the lack of a barrier was slightly disconcerting.

"Harry?"

He nodded. "We're dreaming again."

"I thought so."

He was rooted to the spot, trying to figure out what it all meant. The two dreams he'd shared with Ginny had coincided with new stages in their bond. The first dream had come just before they discovered their mind-speaking ability, and the second one had come after they had started feeling each other's feelings as their own. He watched as Ginny approached the archway and felt her confusion as well, but she tossed it aside and stepped through.

Suddenly, Harry was assaulted by a thousand sensations that both were and weren't his own. He could see himself standing there as well as see Ginny step through the arch, he could feel the cold stone under his feet, and he could also feel the chill in another set of feet. He could smell the change in air between the cool, dry dungeon and the warm, comfortable dormitory, as he could hear both Ginny and himself yell in surprise from two entirely different places, and two entirely different sets of ears.. He felt all this in and instant, and in the next instant, he turned away from Ginny, closed his eyes, put his hands on his ears, and threw up from the sense of vertigo that assaulted his senses.

It was a long few moments before he opened his eyes again and thanked Merlin the feeling had passed. He turned to look at Ginny, who was as pale as he felt, and he noticed that she had gotten sick as well. Their eyes met in alarm as Ginny brushed her hair back and stepped away from the arch.

"What the bloody hell was that?"

Ginny stared at the archway for a moment, obviously lost in thought. Finally, she blinked and turned her gaze toward him. "Do you really want to know?"

Harry stared at her. "You know what it was?"

She nodded, albeit a little hesitantly. "I think so."

"What then?"

She took a breath and steadied herself. "I think we were seeing through each other's eyes and our own at the same time."

Harry's lips opened to tell her how absurd that idea was, but no sound came out. When he thought about it that way, it made perfect sense what he's seen and felt. It had almost felt like that, and he hadn't been able to take it because it was so much information that he couldn't process it. His lips parted again.

"I don't think it was only sight."

Ginny nodded in agreement. "I thought I felt something really weird. It was like I was in two places at once."

Harry smiled grimly. "Exactly."

Silence reigned for a few moments as they looked each other over, and then Ginny turned to remove the vomit from her mind. Harry copied her and flushed a little pink with embarrassment even though she'd done the exact same thing. She didn't seem to have the same feelings; he saw her eyes looking over the archway with an intense curiosity and nearly ignoring him.

"So what do you think caused this?"

She pointed at the archway. "It happened when I stepped into your mind."

That made sense. If she was inside his mind, it would make sense that she would be able to sense everything he did. He supposed it was a two way connection in that Ginny's mind-self served as a connection between the two minds, and that's why he had the same reaction she did. The only question was, why now?

"Something like this happened the night you were attacked," Harry suddenly remembered. "I've just realized what happened. I had a vision of Black attacking you, but I couldn't see you in it. I must have been looking through your eyes, because I knew it was you that he attacked."

Her eyes turned sharply toward him. "You saw that?"

He nodded. "And felt it – I knew once I saw him, and I felt how scared you were, it had to be you that he was attacking. I ran as fast as I could from the Great Hall."

"So that's how you found me so fast..." She trailed off as her hand reached out and moved through the archway. Harry immediately felt something very odd on his hand, though it was barely noticeable. It was as though he had two hands where one should be, and he felt each of them independently, and one was smaller than the other. He raised his own hand to look at it as Ginny spoke.

"You feel that?"

"Yeah."

She stepped to the side relative to the door and put her hand on the wall on the other side of the archway. The odd feeling extended its way partially up Harry's forearm, and suddenly he felt the cool stone wall under his hand, except it wasn't his hand. He wasn't sure how he knew it, but he knew one hand was touching cold stone and one hand was still in front of his face in midair. His eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"The wall is cold."

Ginny nodded. "It is."

Harry raised his own hand even further, letting it touch the side of his face. He felt Ginny's gaze lock onto his own as a soft smile ran over her lips.

"Your skin is soft."

Harry flushed pink as Ginny ginned in amusement. He felt her hand move backward through the arch and the feeling subsided as he let his own drop to his side. That confirmed his suspicions. Obviously whatever Ginny had inside of his mind, both she and he could feel that part of the other's body as if it was their own. He stepped forward toward the arch and stood in front of it, feeling a bit unnerved.

"This happened today, too. I knew you were in the library while you were gone."

She raised her eyebrow. "I didn't tell you that."

"I felt the books. I could almost see them, but I didn't know what it was. I thought I was just imagining things."

A look of surprise darted across her features, quickly followed by understanding. She was about to respond when Harry reached his hand out to touch the archway, and suddenly the feeling returned, only this time in the parts of his fingers that were on Ginny's side. He looked up at her and she nodded in agreement.

"Works both ways," Harry observed unnecessarily.

Ginny suddenly blinked rapidly, and Harry felt an irrepressible urge to yawn. He knew this feeling – the sleep was dragging him back under. It seemed the dreams had their limits, and whenever they figured out what they were supposed to know, they were dragged back into their unconsciousness.

"'Night, Harry." Ginny said, smiling sleepily as she turned back toward her mind-bed.

"'Night, my Soulmate." Harry grinned cheekily, but the effect was ruined by a huge yawn as he turned back toward his own bed. He heard Ginny echo his words behind him as they shared a feeling of warmth that was better than any blankets could provide. His mind was still spinning with wonder at what had happened between them, but he was too tired to worry about is he crawled back into his bed and was out like a light.

------

The next morning, Harry woke and opened his eyes, and then promptly shut them again. _No, this is not happening. _He hesitantly let them flutter open again, and sighed in relief. For a moment, he'd thought that he was looking through Ginny's eyes and into her dormitory, but it must have been his imagination after that crazy dream he'd had with her. There were still remnants of the dual sensory input, but it was subdued to point where he didn't notice it if he didn't look for it. It was like what he'd felt when she was in the library, but he knew what he was feeling now and it was more of a constant connection than intermittent. He showered and changed without incident, making it down to the common room as he felt Ginny getting out of the shower. It was probably a good thing he couldn't see out of her eyes – as much as he'd noticed that she was growing into a very pretty young lady, he didn't think watching her while she took a shower would be very comfortable for him, much less her. He plopped down into a comfortable armchair to wait.

A few minutes later, and after Hermione had told him quite unnecessarily that Ginny would be down soon, he felt her exit her dorm and get ready to head down the stairs. His eyes fluttered over toward the girls' staircase and he nearly cursed as the horribly familiar feeling of vertigo crashed over him and he felt as though he was both at the bottom of the stairs and the top. He felt one of their feet (it had to be hers, but he couldn't tell just by feel whose it was) miss a stair, and as his senses returned to normal and he clamped his mouth shut to keep from getting sick, he heard a squeal and felt dull pain form in random spots on his body.

"Ginny!"

He said it aloud before he thought about where he was, and dashed over to the girls' staircase just as a mass of red came tumbling off of it. Ron and Hermione appeared at his side once they realized what had happened, but Harry didn't notice as he was blinking the stars from his vision as Ginny hit her head on the final stair. He knelt by her side as she moaned in pain, though she was able to make it up onto her hands and knees before Harry could stop her.

"I'm all right."

_The hell you aren't! _Harry literally screamed in her head, causing her to whimper in pain. He felt a pang of sorrow, but she brushed him off and tried, almost unsuccessfully, to stand under her own power. By the time she'd made it to her feet, she felt strangely dizzy and collapsed again. Harry almost fell with her as he felt her dizziness wash over him as if it was his own.

"What's wrong with her?" Ron asked. Harry looked over at Hermione for help, who immediately took the hint.

"She probably is still haven't dizziness from her head injury. Harry, do you think you could help her to the Hospital Wing?"

"I don't need _his_ help!" Ginny nearly screamed, throwing a venomous look at Harry. Hermione's eyes shifted uncomfortably, obviously wondering what exactly had happened between the two.

"Okay, then Ron can take you."

"Fine."

Harry watched as brother and sister headed out through the portrait hole, hoping that Ginny would be all right but afraid to even touch the bond because of what had happened. He could still feel things he shouldn't, but as long as he was ignoring it, the feelings moved to the back of his head and he was able to ignore them too.

"What happened?" Hermione asked anxiously as soon as the portrait hole closed.

"Don't worry about it, it's between Ginny and I," Harry replied curtly before setting off toward the portrait hole himself. A huge crowd of students sounded exactly like what he needed right now to get his mind off of Ginny and to get Hermione off his back.

"But something had to happen to make her fall down the stairs, and I think you know what it was!"

Harry banged open the portrait, much to the Fat Lady's disgust. "You were actually right. She felt dizzy and she missed a stair on the way down. How do I know that? Because I'm inside her bloody head!"

Hermione apologized to the Fat Lady behind him and scurried to catch up, speaking at him rapidly and in a hushed voice. "Harry! Do you want the entire school to know what's going on between you and her?"

He rolled his eyes in exasperation, but he at least took her point and put his frustration into harsh whispers instead of shouts. "Trust me, Hermione, there is _nothing_ going on between us. We just have this stupid mind connection that is more of a bother than anything else and now Ginny is hacked off at me and I have to deal with it inside my head. That sound like a picnic to you?"

"No, Harry, but if you'll tell me what's wrong, I might be able to help."

"What are you going to do? Go look it up in a book? Feelings aren't something you can look up in a book, Hermione. There's no section of _Hogwarts: A History_ that tells me how to deal with angry Weasleys screaming at me in my head for something that I didn't even do!"

"Harry, calm down! The last thing Ginny needs right now is for you to be angry at her too!"

"Yeah? Well someone needs to be angry at her because no one else seems to be able to stand up to her. It's not my bloody fault!"

"Stop cursing for Merlin's sake! And maybe she is wrong, but it doesn't matter because she's the one in the Hospital Wing and you're the one going down to the Great Hall for breakfast. How do you think she feels?"

Harry had nearly gotten through the huge doors when he whirled on Hermione and pressed her against the nearest wall, his face reddening with rage.

"How do I think she _feels?_ I don't _think_ she feels anything! I know exactly what she's feeling! Most of what she's feeling is anger at me, but when she stops to think about it, she realizes that she's not really angry at me but she's angry at this godforsaken bond between us and how it made her fall down the stairs. And then she feels a bit of guilt at telling me off for caring about her, even though she gets a little satisfaction from it, and she even feels guilty about that! And that's before MY feelings get into it!"

For the first time, Harry noticed the look of raw fear on Hermione's face and how pale she'd become. He also noticed how his hand had grabbed the front of her robes and pinned her against the wall, which he released immediately. He took one look at the Great Hall and shook his head, finally taming his voice into something resembling a plea.

"Please, don't follow me. I don't want to talk to you, and you don't want to talk to me. Go eat breakfast, and I might see you in Arithmancy." With that, Harry turned and headed out toward the grounds, off to destinations unknown and looking for a place to crash and burn.

------

He wound up at Hagrid's place, mostly because he knew he had an unconditional friend there and Hagrid wouldn't ask too many questions if told to back off. But for whatever reason, Hagrid was absent when Harry arrived, though Fang greeted him at the door with an enthusiastic licking. At least some things never changed.

Happy to be alone (sans Fang), Harry sat at the table he'd drank so much tea at and learned not to sample Hagrid's cooking. He didn't want to think about what had just happened, but he knew it was impossible, especially with the whirlwind of feelings running through him. It was bad enough just dealing with his own, but Ginny was in even worse shape than he was, and even under the influence of a calming potion, she was feeling more things than he could ever comprehend.

He tried to separate out her feelings and leave them alone, but he quickly found that it was impossible. Everything he felt was somehow tied to her, and upon closer inspection, he realized that a lot of her feelings came back to the way he felt. It was an odd paradox as the feelings really had no beginning or end, they just swirled around inside of him faster and faster until he wanted to either tear something to pieces or have a nice long cry. Eventually he settled for the latter, and that was how Hagrid found him a half hour later, still sniffling with reddened eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

"Harry! How are yeh?"

He turned and the joyful look on the gamekeeper's face disappeared in an instant. For once, Hagrid seemed speechless, and even though Fang was demanding attention at his feet, his eyes were locked onto Harry like he was a complete stranger. Eventually the spell was broken and Hagrid let out a loud cough.

"So, yeh up fer some tea?"

Harry nodded, more to appease his friend than anything. He really didn't feel like anything at the moment, but he had time to kill until Arithmancy was over. He'd already missed the start of class, and he knew it wouldn't do him any good to show up late, especially in his current state. He could only imagine the barrage of questions Hermione would throw at him, and he wouldn't have any answers for her, mostly because he didn't know, and partially because he didn't want to talk to her. Ginny was the girl he went to when he had any kind of emotional difficulty, either with friends or himself, but obviously that wasn't an option at the moment.

"So yeh want ter talk about it?"

"Not really."

Hagrid gave him a minute of silence, and then apparently decided that Harry needed to talk about something, even if it wasn't himself.

"Yeh know, Hermione's been down here a couple o' times 'erself."

Harry looked up, mildly surprised. He didn't know Hermione was that close to Hagrid. "She has?"

"Yup. Seems mighty depressed. I think she's been overworkin' 'erself, if yeh ask me."

Harry shook his head. "I don't know how she does it, Hagrid. She has more classes than all of us, she doesn't miss any of them even though they're overlapping, and she still is top of our class. I don't know when she sleeps."

Hagrid stroked his beard a moment, as if contemplating an answer. "Are yeh sure she does?"

Harry blinked, wondering if Hagrid knew something that he didn't. "We try to make her go up to her bed every night but I can't exactly check on her. Besides, it's not my job."

"Isn't it? Shouldn't yeh be lookin' after yer friends?"

He shook his head. "No, the more I try and look after them, the more they seem to hate me. Hermione can look after herself. And besides, do you really think I'm the best person to be doing it in the first place?"

"I can't think of any better." Hagrid paused. "What're you on abou' now? O' course yer friends don't hate yeh."

"Yeah, because friends really attack each other in the Entrance Hall," Harry said bitterly. "As if she didn't have enough to worry about before, now she's got to worry about her best friend having a go at her."

"Whoa, hold on. What did yeh do ter Hermione?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I said I attacked her."

"Why?"

He was surprised by the question. "Does it matter?"

"Yeh had to have a mighty good reason to go an' cross Hermione."

Harry shrugged. "It's not really important. I'm just unstable. See?" He pointed at his face, and the last word was loaded with a self-loathing unlike anything he'd ever experienced before.

"Yer not unstable, Harry, just a lil confused."

That didn't help at all, and he shook his head after making a show of checking his watch. "Thanks for the tea Hagrid, but I've really got to get to class."

There was a look of understanding in the bigger man's eyes, and Harry was grateful the subject was dropped. "All righ' Harry. Take care gettin' back to the castle."

"Thanks again," Harry said as he left. He had no intention of going back to the castle, mostly because that was closer to Hermione. He knew Ginny would avoid him as much as he was avoiding her, so she wasn't a problem, but he didn't know where Hermione would be and that was a problem. He considered sneaking back up to the dormitory and crashing there, but he didn't want to risk running into her on the way. The first classes _were_ letting out, but he had no intention of going to Transfiguration. Instead, he walked toward the lake, making sure to stay as out of sight as possible and wishing he had his Invisibility Cloak.

In fact, that wasn't a bad idea. He took his time coming around the lake, making sure that his Transfiguration class had started before he headed back to the castle. He might not be there, but he knew Hermione wouldn't miss Transfiguration just to go looking for him. The only thing he had to worry about was a talkative portrait, but by now, he knew which ones to avoid. The wildcard was Peeves, but luck was with him and he was able to make it up to Gryffindor tower without incident.

Once he'd donned the Invisibility Cloak and relocked his trunk, Harry felt safe and secure. The only person who could find him now was already avoiding him, and by the time he got out to the lake, she would have to find a good reason for going to look for him out there. He slipped through the castle once more, taking shortcuts he'd learned to shorten the journey and heading back out to a place he'd noticed on the other side of the lake. It was a place where the lake bordered the Forbidden forest, and there was a comfortable looking tree shielded from sight of the castle by numerous shrubs and bushes. Still with the cloak wrapped tightly around him, Harry settle in and slipped off to sleep, catching up for time lost to the nightmare he'd begun the night before and that had dragged into his waking hours this morning.

------

Some few hours later, Harry was awakened by a wet nudge to his cheek. He instinctively swatted at it to go away, but it was insistent and finally forced him to open his eyes. When he did, he would have jumped to his feet if an enormous black dog had not been standing over him. Instead, he bit back a scream of terror and stared at the dog. It looked thin, too thin to belong to someone, and besides, the school would never allow a student to have a pet this huge. Harry suspected the dog would come up to his belly button if he stood up.

Whoever it belonged to, the dog seemed to be friendly. Harry thought he looked vaguely familiar, but as he reached up to scratch the dog behind the ears, he couldn't figure out anywhere he might have seen him before, and really, he would have remembered meeting a dog this friendly if it had happened before his eleventh birthday. Back in those days, he remembered if anyone or anything was friendly to him, including Dedalus Diggle, who once bowed to him in a shop.

The dog seemed to like the scratching, because he lay down next to Harry and enjoyed the sun raining warmth down on the both of them. The fact that everything below Harry's head was still invisible didn't seem to bother the dog, because he (Harry assumed it was male) laid against the side of Harry's body without a second thought. Harry wondered if it could somehow see through Invisibility Cloaks, but there didn't seem to be anything special about this dog except for its size.

Eventually, the dog flopped over and made Harry chuckle as he began to rub its stomach, watching with interest the look of pure contentment that washed over the dog's face. He wasn't sure how a dog could look content, but with closed eyes and his tongue hanging out, this dog certainly did. Eventually, Harry's hand slowed and he fell back asleep, much more peaceful than he had been only ten minutes ago.

------

Ginny Weasley was getting impatient. She had only told Madam Pomfrey that she felt dizzy and fell down the stairs this morning, and told her nothing about the bond or seeing through someone else's eyes. Somehow, she thought that as much as the knowledge might have helped the medi-witch, it would bring a lot more trouble that it was worth. So instead, she sat for an army of tests to verify that her brain wasn't permanently damaged in any way, and also ensure that she wasn't doing anything to aggravate the problem. Ginny didn't like leaving someone who was supposed to be healing her out of the loop, but she had a suspicion that the bond had nothing to do with her medical health.

She knew that Harry had gone down to Hagrid's hut, and though she'd tried her hardest to ignore it, she could still hear the soft sobbing, and then two voices to which she couldn't make out the words. She knew instinctively that it was Harry crying, though the idea was so odd to her that she had to check and recheck to make sure she was hearing it right. They both were a whirlwind of emotions, and when she felt him reach for her to try and understand what was going on, she felt a flare up of irrational anger at him because it was him that she was bonded to. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that it wasn't his fault and was probably just as distressed by the bond as she was, but that was an easy fact to ignore when she needed someone to blame.

He was more distant than she ever remembered him being when he faded into unconsciousness, but she shoved thoughts of him from her mind as Madam Pomfrey waved her wand to collect the results of a potion-based test she'd given Ginny when Ron had brought her in. By that time, she was feeling fine, but she knew better than to tell Pomfrey that. Instead, she focused on ignoring Harry and how miserable he was feeling and tried to work out her own feelings. She was happy with the bond as it was; why did it have to go and do something like this? Sharing a mind-to-mind connection was great because it meant having her best friend always around, and sharing feelings, while scary at first, had become something of second nature to them and it was nice not having to explain a lot of things she could never find words for. It also worked well with the way Harry liked to take care of her, because he knew when she wanted to talk and he also knew when to back off. The last couple weeks, and especially yesterday, had been fantastic.

So why had everything changed? She didn't want or need to be able to see through Harry's eyes, or hear what he was hearing – they were just fine the way they were. She'd thought they had everything under control, but apparently her fall down the stairs was a painful reminder of how out of control they really were. The bond seemed to have its own agenda, and they were simply caught up in its wake and trying to survive. It didn't escape her notice that her feelings were never entirely her own anymore. There was always a little bit of Harry in everything, making her wonder if she was losing herself to the bond. She didn't want to be Ginny Weasley mixed with Harry Potter. She wanted to be Ginny Weasley, full stop.

She pulled an empty piece of parchment from a stack on a desk that was made for visitors to leave homework for the patients on and shredded it into a million tiny little pieces. If Madam Pomfrey noticed, she didn't say anything as she came back with the results and told Ginny that she was fine, though if she felt anything even slightly wrong she should come back for a check up. Ginny knew it had to be vexing to the medi-witch that she couldn't figure out what was wrong, but somehow she couldn't have much sympathy for anyone else at the moment. They weren't the ones that had a boy invading their mind.

Ginny was released just in time for lunch, which initially excited her, but when she saw Ron and Hermione's eyes lock onto her in the Great Hall, her entire mood died. She did a quick check and noticed that Harry wasn't even inside of the castle, let alone in the Great Hall, and then trudged over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting.

"Did Harry come to see you?" Ron asked straight away.

"No." Of course not.

"He didn't show up for Arithmancy or Transfiguration," Hermione said, her fingers drumming the table and playing with her fork worriedly.

"You might know something about that," Ginny snapped without thinking before piling her plate with food. She didn't know what Harry and Hermione had argued about, but whatever she'd said had infuriated him and caused him to go stomping out onto the grounds.

"How...how do you know about that?" Hermione asked, confused. Ginny gave her an 'are you stupid?' look, and then rolled her eyes.

"Hermione, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you probably hounded him all the way to the Great Hall with questions and advice. I probably would have run away too." That wasn't exactly why he'd run, but that was the gist of it, and it really hit home if the look on her face was any indication. Surprisingly, she wasn't the one to defend herself.

"Ginny, stop having a go at Hermione. She didn't do anything wrong."

Both girls froze where they were and looked over at Ron, whose ears immediately turned red as his eyes fixed to his plate and he mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like an apology.

"Since when do you stand up for Hermione, Ron?" Ginny asked. It was a mean question, and she really just asked it to get the subject off of her and Harry, but again, she wasn't feeling too much sympathy for anyone but herself at the moment. And possibly a sliver for Harry.

"You try and sit next to her alone for an hour in Transfiguration after Harry goes off at her. It's bloody depressing."

Ginny's eyes quickly looked over at Hermione, whose face shifted from surprised, so hopeful, to annoyed, and back to unreadable all in the span of about a second. For once, she couldn't think of anything to say and the lunch continued in a very uncomfortable silence where anyone could have cut the tension with a butter knife. Ginny was glad to get away from the pair and back with her own crowd of carefree and ignorant friends as the afternoon classes began.

------

By evening, Ginny was very worried about Harry. At some point soon after lunch, he'd woken and felt better, though the cause of his increased cheerfulness Ginny couldn't say. The only things he knew was he had woken, something big, black, and furry had been somewhere around him, and then he'd gone back to sleep, happier than he'd woken. The problem was, he hadn't stayed happy. He was still asleep, but Ginny could sense his emotions darkening at an alarming rate, and not for the first time, she wondered if he was having nightmares, wherever he was.

In any case, he was very good at remaining hidden because none of the teachers or students had stumbled across him anywhere. She knew he was on the other side of the lake, but surely someone had walked past him at some point? He'd woken only once, and that had been for a very short time, so he wouldn't have been able to elude them. Mystified, Ginny finished off her dinner and was about to head up to Gryffindor Tower when Hermione and Ron sat down on either side of him.

"Have you seen Harry at all?"

Ginny shook her head. "He doesn't want to be bothered. You'll never find him."

"So you've seen him?" Ron asked, accusingly.

"No, I just know better to look for him when he doesn't want to be found. Even if I could find him, he would probably bite my head off."

"We're really worried about him, Ginny," Hermione said, a tone of pleading in her voice. "So if there's _any _way you know how to find him, we need to make sure he's all right."

Ginny knew what she was really asking, but because of where Harry was, she couldn't just stumble upon him and not have to explain a great many things to Ron.

"Like I said, Hermione, he probably doesn't want to be found. I know what kind of temper he has, and trust me, you don't want him to get even angrier at you."

"But Black could be after him right now!" Ron blurted. "He could already be dead!"

"He's probably safe and warm, wherever he is, Ron." By now, Ginny was feeling quite exasperated and just wanted to be left alone. "And besides, even if Black had him, we wouldn't want to lead more people to the slaughter, would we?" She shot a very significant look at Hermione, who furrowed her eyebrows, obviously not understanding.

"But the more of us there are, the more chance we have to save him," Hermione said. Ginny almost smiled. Having a second conversation while still speaking in the words of the first was her game, and she knew how to play.

"Yeah, because Harry would really want more of us to die for him. He already thinks it's dangerous for us to know him and know things about him, why would he want to endanger us more?"

Hermione looked even more confused for a moment, trying to work out what Ginny really said. Ron looked confusedly at Ginny.

"But he needs us!"

"Yeah, you try telling him that. He's got a skull as thick as Hagrid," Ginny replied dryly, and then breathed an internal sigh of relief as comprehension dawned on Hermione's face.

"Ron, why don't you go check all of the boys' toilets again, and Ginny and I will keep searching the castle."

Ron groaned. "Again? I've already checked them once."

"He might have gone there when you weren't looking," Ginny said reasonably. "And besides, a boy has to pee, doesn't he?"

Hermione let out a small laugh while Ron flushed at the last comment. "I suppose. All right, I'll meet you two back in the common room in twenty minutes if we haven't found him by then."

Ron headed toward the staircases and as soon as he was out of earshot, Hermione whirled on Ginny. "Where is he?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Come on, he's fine. He's just sleeping."

"He's sleeping? But Ron checked –"

Ginny pulled Hermione toward the Entrance Hall and headed out toward the Lake. "He's not sleeping in his bed, that's the first place you would look. He's someplace you'll never find him."

Hermione peppered Ginny with questions all the way around the lake, but they were mostly ignored as Ginny honed in on her sense of Harry. It got sharper along with her feelings of his emotions as she approached, making her wish she'd come out here earlier. Back in the castle, she knew he wasn't feeling great and probably would wake up feeling like a dementor was approaching, but there was an edge to his depression that she hadn't felt before. She was glad he was asleep – she wasn't sure what he might have done if he'd been awake all this time.

They approached a tree that had a particularly dense set of shrubbery around it and Ginny knew this was where he was. As she walked around the tree, she smiled grimly as she realized how he'd gone unnoticed.

"Ginny, where are we going? This is the Forbidden Forest!"

"Keep your knickers on, Hermione. He's right here."

Hermione glanced wildly around. "Where?"

Instead of answering, Ginny knelt by Harry's side, which was such a strong presence in her mind that she could nearly see the outline of his body. Her hand reached out and stroked his face gently, trying to rouse him without startling him. Hermione let out a small gasp when Ginny pushed the cloak's hood back from his face, which was resting sideways against the tree with his glasses askew. His hair was a complete mess, as if he'd been running his hands through it and perhaps a dog had been licking it, and his eyes and cheeks still held the evidence of a good long cry.

When he didn't wake, Ginny crawled on top of him and turned his head toward her with her other hand, still stroking his cheek with a thumb, trying to gently bring him back to consciousness. Her anger at him had slowly dissipated throughout the day, and now she just wanted to make sure he was all right and that he knew she wasn't really mad at him. Slowly, his eyes began to open as he looked up at her. Her heart broke when she saw the fear in them, and she couldn't pretend it was at something else because she felt that it was at her, and that he was afraid of her rejecting him. He opened his mouth to say something, no doubt apologize, but she put a finger to his lips and shushed him.

"Shhhh, Harry. I'm not mad at you, and I don't want you to leave."

He closed his mouth and looked up at her, still squirming under her body a bit. She knew the position was very uncomfortable for him, but she didn't want to risk him running off on her.

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay. You've been out here all day, sleeping."

Harry looked around and sighed, as if he'd just realized the time. "I didn't mean to be out here this long." His voice was scratchy and still sounded tired, which made Ginny's sympathy for him overflow its already bursting container.

"Don't worry about that right now. I'm sure Hermione will catch you up on your classes. We just wanted to know that you were safe."

Harry looked over at Hermione, as if realizing she was there for the first time. Ginny noticed a radical change in his feelings as soon as he saw that they weren't alone, and she wondered what it meant.

"I'm fine, Ginny. Now can you get off me?"

Ginny was almost hurt by his roughness, but she knew it wasn't her fault. She looked up at Hermione, hating herself for what she was about to say. "He's fine, Hermione. You can go back to the castle and tell Ron right now." She put a harsh spin on the last two words that she knew hurt the older witch, but there wasn't much else she could do. Hermione nodded and turned smartly, walking quickly out of sight and back toward the castle. As soon as she was gone, Ginny could feel Harry relax once again.

"I didn't mean to sleep this long, it's just...it's just habit, I suppose."

"Habit?"

Harry nodded. "I used to do this all the time when the Dursleys locked me in my cupboard. Sleep all day and all night, I mean."

Ginny saw her own rush of sadness on his face, mostly because he didn't want her to feel sorry for him and it showed, but she didn't care one bit. No one should have had to go through what Harry did in his childhood, and if she could help it, he wouldn't spend one more day with those horrid people.

"I'm sorry for getting angry with you. I... I just wish we could be left alone. I don't know why we can't just stop our bond from doing this. I was happy the way it was."

Harry shook his head. "I was too, but there's no point in trying now. We're just going to have to deal with it."

And that was the truth, whether she wanted to admit it or not. "At least we still have each other. It's hard to stay angry with you when I know how you feel."

"As long as you don't decide to chuck me out."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You know I would never do that, don't you?"

"I don't know, Ginny. I don't know how you stand me all the time. I feel worthless most of the time because I know what you're feeling and I know you want me to help, but I just don't know how. And then I go and cause you to fall down the stairs and embarrass yourself."

Ginny swatted his chest firmly. "That wasn't your fault and you know it. And I don't put up with you, I love being around you. Maybe not this morning, but if you ever left, I don't know what I would do. I'd be miserable _and_ alone."

Harry tried to smile. "You have Ron and Hermione."

"Not like I have you."

There wasn't much he could say to that, so he just let her win and laid his head back. She finally rolled off of him and stood up, brushing herself off and grinning.

"You don't know how weird it is to sit on someone who's wearing an Invisibility Cloak."

Harry forced a laugh. "I suppose I don't."

"Come on, let's go get you some supper and you'll feel better."

Harry groaned. "You're already sounding like your mum."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "I'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much."

He stood and shook his head. "You make it impossible to stay miserable, you know that? I happen to like being miserable."

"I'm glad I could help, because I can't stand you when you're miserable. Now hand over the Cloak. I don't trust you."

Harry gave it to her without a fight. "I don't know why, you'd always be able to find me again."

"I suppose. But I'd rather not have you get any ideas."

"Fine."

Ginny smiled winningly and grabbed his arm in hers and began walking back toward the castle. She loved how Harry grudgingly accepted her control, even though deep down she could feel that he was comforted and warmed by it. She supposed that's what Harry needed most of the time – someone to take care of him and love him without overstepping their bounds. He'd gotten his time alone today, and now it was time to come back and face the world. She performed a quick spell on his face, and much to his surprise, he looked almost normal. The glamour wouldn't stand up to any type of counterspell, but Ginny had done her fair share of crying last year at school and she'd learned to put on a face for everyone else, even if she'd looked up the magic to do it.

As they walked back to the castle together, Ginny finally felt that small sliver of happiness slip into Harry under all of the darkness and depression, and given the circumstances, that's all she could ask for.

------

_**A/N:** Hello! I'm so sorry for taking this long to get things out - moving away from home takes up a lot of time and saps a lot of inspiration and energy. I actually wrote one and a half chapters to get this one out, because there was about half a chapter I edited out because it wasn't where I wanted to go (yet). I do want to thank all of the kind reviews and I hope you'll keep telling me what you think. A fanfiction writer's best tool for getting better is feedback, and there's nothing I appreciate more than a review._

_Anywho, I'm hoping this will be the longest between any two chapters, but no promises as I'm now in school and my workload is increasing._


	11. Discord

**  
Soul Nexus 11: Discord  
**

Harry and Ginny trekked back up to the castle without speaking, but for them verbal silence only meant a sharing of feelings without words. There would never be complete silence between them again, and even though one of them may try to shut the other out, they'd found that a cold shoulder wasn't even close to going back to being two separate people.

Naturally, Ron and Hermione were waiting anxiously for them the moment they stepped through the doors to the Entrance Hall, but from the first moment Harry saw Hermione, he knew things weren't all right by a long shot. There was a definite difference between the feelings that Ginny and Hermione each evoked in him, but he'd never thought it was as drastically different as it was. If he'd been honest with himself, he would have realized that there were parts of Hermione's personality that did on him every time he saw her, but there were so many redeeming qualities that it never seemed to matter. This evening had been an occasion where he'd been caught unaware and he hadn't had the presence of mind to throw a familiar blanket over his emotions, causing the awkward situation of having to explain to Hermione why he had acted so differently for her than for Ginny.

"Harry! Where've you been?"

Harry tried to force a smile for Ron's obvious excitement, but it felt fake on his face. "Just having a nap out by the lake. It's nothing, really."

"For the whole day?"

"Lost track of time, I suppose," Harry shrugged. "So did I miss anything in lessons?"

Ron shook his head. "No, but I wish you'd told me you were going to skive off. I could have used a break too, you know."

Harry shook his head, shoving aside Ginny's amusement. By now, the warm feelings of being woken by her had worn off and her obvious irritation and dislike of Hermione was starting to wear on him. As he thought of that, a flash of Ginny's vision nearly overtook him, causing a second of dizziness and a brief moment of vertigo. He shook his head to clear it, but a thought still remained behind. _Hermione's got a glamour charm – funny, I thought she would have done a better job with it._

"Well, I wasn't planning on it, it just kind of happened," Harry replied, but his attention was directed over at Hermione, who was standing in the background looking as indifferent as ever. If Ginny's thought hadn't slipped into his mind, he never would have noticed the faint traces of redness to her eyes and nose that gave away a hastily applied glamour charm, making him wonder how many times she'd done the same thing before and he'd never noticed.

"Wait, we checked by the lake," Ron said, confused. "Isn't the other side in the Forest?"

Harry exchanged a look with Ginny and then shook his head in dismissal. "It was only the edge. You sound like Her–" He froze, horrified at what he'd nearly said. With all the willpower he could muster, he forced his eyes to remain on Ron and not even twitch toward Hermione. "Like your mum." Only after Ron rolled his eyes and grumbled did Harry allow himself to look at Hermione, who had an understandably clouded expression on her face.

"Are you all right?" she asked sharply, raising an eyebrow at his gaze. Harry squirmed under a look of obvious condescension, dropping that same gaze to the floor.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

_You didn't do anything wrong!_ Ginny practically yelled in his head while pretending to look at some of the artwork. _Stand up to her!_

"Well then, I have a lot of work to do, so I'm going back to the common room." She paused a second to glance over Harry again, something springing to her eyes that even a perfect glamour couldn't cover, and then the three of them watched her spin on her heel and march off toward the staircases. Harry didn't blame her, really, but the last five minutes still left him with a bitter taste in his mouth. He followed Ron and Ginny up the staircases a few moments later, but he didn't feel like talking, so the Weasleys filled the silence with unimportant chatter. He was thankful for that at least, even if he couldn't stop wondering how to talk to Hermione without lying and yet still patching things up.

------

The rest of the night was uneventful, though Hermione was up in her dormitory by the time the trio arrived in the common room. For once, Harry and Ginny got through an ordinary night with nothing happening between them, other than slight sensations here and there that they knew weren't their own. There wasn't much they could do about it, so they left their thoughts and slight irritation unspoken and passed an enjoyable night with Ron, who seemed pleasantly surprised by their enthusiastic company. Harry caught him more than once looking up at the girls' staircase, but there wasn't much he could say so he remained quiet.

The next morning, both Harry and Ginny were extra careful in coming down the steps, though no overwhelming bursts of vertigo overtook them and they generally remained in their own skins. In fact, if he didn't know better, Harry would have sworn that everything was perfectly normal and he'd only imagined seeing and feeling through Ginny's senses the previous day. Ron and Hermione were nowhere to be found, so they finally wound up going down to breakfast with just the two of them. It was impossible to be disappointed about being with Ginny, but there was still a nagging feeling at the back of his heart that something wasn't quite right.

"Stop worrying, Harry. Hermione will be fine."

His eyes glanced over at Ginny, shaking his head. "You know I don't believe that."

"You know it's true."

Harry thought about that for a bit, and yes, he did know that eventually Hermione would be fine, but what always made her okay? Even after being attacked by a basilisk, she'd suffered no permanent harm and walked away without so much as a broken bone.

"Only because I'm going to apologize."

"You've changed."

The sentence was so short and quick that Harry nearly passed over it without thinking. By the second time it had run through his mind, he raised a curious eyebrow at Ginny and gently nudged her mind, wondering what she was thinking. A lot of confusion swirled and he couldn't get a clear read on her, but he thought (hoped, even) that he detected a small bit of pride mixed in somewhere.

"What d'you mean?"

Ginny shook her head, her hair falling across her face in a way that Harry couldn't miss. "It's just...I don't know. You feel different. Softer. More open." Her eyes squeezed shut as she growled. "No, it's not a bad thing! It's just...different."

They were almost to the Great Hall, which was good because Harry didn't quite know how to respond. Even if he had, he wouldn't have gotten the chance because Hermione came bursting out of the doors looking very frustrated and not at all happy. Harry quickly stepped out of her way, though he wasn't quite fast enough to avoid a hard knock to the side from her very heavy bookbag. Fortunately, Hermione either didn't notice or didn't care, because she didn't stop even as she disappeared from sight around a corner. Harry and Ginny both shared a questioning glance at one and other before stepping into the Hall and finding Ron with their eyes. He looked rather miserable, which only lent more confusion to the situation. Harry knew Ron was a bit, well, thick when it came to Hermione, but even he had the sense not to hack her off after what happened the day before, didn't he?

Ginny's hand began dragging him over toward the Gryffindor table, which was a good thing because they were starting to attract some attention, though Harry did get a slight feeling of satisfaction when he saw Malfoy still doing everything he could not to look at or attract the attention of himself or Ginny.

"What's Hermione all in a huff about?" Ginny asked pleasantly as she and Harry slipped down to the table on either side of Ron. Harry was momentarily distracted by her disappointment that they couldn't sit next to each other (there wasn't enough room), but he shook it off and chiding himself for actually starting to agree with her. He wasn't a girl — not sitting next to his best friend for breakfast wasn't something to even think about.

"Nothing," Ron replied. He looked rather unhappy, considering he had a nearly full plate of breakfast in front of him. It looked as though he'd piled on the food, ready for a feast and then something had taken away his appetite entirely.

Ginny rolled her eyes and started in on her breakfast, unaffected, but Harry couldn't stop thinking about it. Hagrid was right — he did need to look after his friends better. He knew he was responsible for the breakdown Hermione was displaying, and now he had to do something about it.

"Hey." Ginny reached around Ron to poke Harry in the side. "Don't worry about it, she'll be all right."

He'd said the same thing to Hagrid yesterday, and even then he'd known that the words were hollow. The only reason she would be all right was if he did something about it.

"Oi! Harry!"

Harry turned toward the voice of his Quidditch captain, Oliver Wood. The burly keeper had a fire in his eyes that didn't bode well for the overall happiness of the Gryffindor team — it usually meant more practices and longer at each practice session.

"I'm upping the practices to today, tomorrow, and Friday to get ready for the match on Saturday. Be out on the pitch at five sharp! No excuses, and NO getting into more detention!"

"Right-o, Oliver!" Harry did his best to match the older boy's enthusiasm, but it never came off quite right. He felt Ginny snickering at him quietly, but he ignored that and went back to his food.

The rest of the breakfast was consumed in relative quiet, especially for Weasleys. Ginny mostly talked to the other members of Gryffindor house, including some people that Harry knew she wasn't all too thrilled about talking to. At first he thought that she just didn't want to talk to them because she didn't like them, but between the conversations and the rising feeling of guilt that he felt, he realized they were friends that she'd been neglecting to hang out with 'the third-years'.

------

Classes that day were like an intricate piece of glass in that the normalcy of them was beautiful to the third-year trio, but it was forced and ready to shatter at any moment. Many of the conversations felt stilted, and neither Harry nor Ron asked where Hermione got off to when she suddenly disappeared and returned a minute later, looking decidedly more tired. She begged off going to watch Quidditch practice in favor of stealing up to the common room for a short nap, but she agreed to meet them in the Great Hall for a slightly later than normal dinner.

Dinnertime was much the same as classes had been, especially without Ginny's unconcerned presence to shatter the glass and make things terribly awkward. Harry had nearly forced her to sit with her friends, using her own feelings of guilt against her and suggesting that if she didn't want to be with her other friends, she might as well just tell them that she didn't want to be around them anymore. Ginny had given him a mental slap and ignored him, but when he came into the Great Hall with Hermione and Ron for dinner, she was securely tucked away among a group of first and second years, chatting away merrily.

"So Hermione..." Harry asked casually around a mouthful of food. "Would you mind going over what I missed in Arithmancy yesterday?"

She shrugged in clear indifference. "Sure."

"Do you have a lot of work to do tonight?"

"I always have a lot of work to do. Just whenever is best for you."

Harry's head spun slightly. There was a hidden barb in that last comment, one that he knew Hermione wouldn't expect him to get, but much to his consternation he was proving her right. Her tone had given away nothing, but he had this nagging feeling there was something big he was missing.

"Why don't you take a break tonight and we can go see Hagrid?" Harry asked suddenly.

Both Hermione and Ron gave him quizzical looks, though Ron looked more bewildered and Hermione skeptical. Harry raised an eyebrow at Ron, knowing he would be a much easier sell.

"We haven't been down there in ages," the redhead tentatively agreed. Hermione glanced in his direction looking a little trapped, but the tension lines on her forehead relaxed a bit as she agreed.

"I suppose a bit of a break couldn't hurt, if we don't stay too long."

Ron threw Harry an exasperated glance, but he ignored it. There wasn't any way he was going to start another argument with Hermione, especially about how much she worked. It really wasn't any of his business anyway.

After dinner, the three slipped out of the Great Hall and headed down toward the cabin. Ginny asked Harry where they were going, but he just shrugged her off and said nowhere, even though it was impossible to lie to her. Ginny seemed genuinely hurt by his evasion, but it was hard for Harry to feel sorry for her. She and Hermione weren't exactly the best of friends at the moment, and he didn't want to drive Hermione even farther away by making her feel uncomfortable. Ginny could always find him if she really needed anything, but maybe if he didn't tell her she would take a hint and not try to follow along. He hoped to be able to apologize to Hermione without Ginny around (well, as absent as a Soulmate could be) and maybe he might be taken seriously.

"Hullo Hagrid!" Ron greeted merrily, just before being attacked by Fang's tongue. Hagrid's eyes widened in obvious surprise at seeing the three of them, but he hurriedly ushered them in and took a quick look around before shutting the door.

"What 'er you three doin' here?"

Harry glanced at Hermione, who was doing a very nice impression of hurt in her expression. To be quite honest, Harry wondered for a moment if it was real.

"Harry just thought it would be nice to come see you. We can go if you don't —"

"Nonsense! Always happy teh 'ave yeh!" The half-giant's eyes darted over to Harry. "I jus' don't know if yeh should be out so late, Harry."

Harry shifted, but didn't respond. It was true, and his conversation with McGonagall had already confirmed that in his head, but that didn't stop him from feeling rather like a caged animal when anyone mentioned it to him. Even with his recent vacation by the lake, without the ability to roam about the grounds as he pleased the castle was starting to feel like a cupboard. A very large and very nice cupboard, but still a cupboard. If Black found him outside the protection of the teachers and enchantments, there was no telling what might happen.

Hagrid seemed to sense the tension in the room, because he busied about making tea and ushering them to the lone table in his little cabin.

"So what did yeh come down fer?"

The trio shared a mutual shrug. "Just thought it would be nice to see you Hagrid," Hermione finally replied.

The groundskeeper raised his bushy eyebrows, but didn't say anything about it as he served the tea. He made a pointed effort of asking Ron and Harry about their classes, and generally inquiring about the Weasleys. They actually shared a somewhat pleasant evening, and much to Harry's pleasure, some of the ice between him and Hermione thawed. She even went as far as giving him a slight smile when neither Ron nor Hagrid were looking. Harry hadn't a clue what it meant other than he'd done something right, though as usual, it was a complete guess as to what it was.

"I think we'd better get going Hagrid," Hermione finally said, some hour or so later. "We don't want to be out past curfew."

The burly giant blinked as if coming out of a reverie. "Blimey 'Ermione, yer right. 'Ere, lemme escort yeh back up." He began to rise, but Hermione shook her head, surprising Harry. He would have thought she'd have been happy for that.

"Don't trouble yourself Hagrid. I'm sure we'll be fine."

Ron was already nearly out the door when he hesitated. After an odd silence, Hagrid sat back down with his brow furrowed.

"Are we going?" Ron asked impatiently. Both Harry and Hermione shot him slightly irritated glances, but they followed him out the door anyway. It wasn't until they were halfway back up to the castle and nearly shivering that anyone said anything.

"I thought we'd never get out of there!"

"Ron!"

"Well, it's true."

Hermione huffed and started to walk away, but Harry impulsively put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her. It didn't require any force — just the shock of Harry reaching out to her must have had stopping power all on its own.

"It was nice talking to him, Ron." He let his hand fall away from Hermione's shoulder and didn't look at her, but he could feel her eyes boring into him. "I think it was nice."

Ron turned his eyes to stare at him as well, obviously miffed. "Who are you and what have you done with Harry?"

Harry groaned and ran his hands through his hair. Was he not allowed to say something that showed his feelings?

_No._

Why now, of all times, did Ginny decide to pop into his head? She'd been pointedly ignoring him for the past hour, but apparently her curiosity had gotten the better of her; she was practically ready to explode with it.

_You're not going to say anything nice to me anyway._

There was a short silence after that. _You're right, but you can't stop me from talking._ Ginny forced a feeling of superiority into him, one that Harry just let flow through him and away. He was in a very strange mood at the moment and nothing seemed to bother him.

"Harry!"

"Huh?" He started and looked up to find both Hermione and Ron staring at him curiously. He turned a bit pink and shuffled his feet. "Sorry, lost in thought." Hermione gave a slight nod while Ron just looked a little miffed and then unconcerned. After a moment, Hermione shook her head and started off ahead of them without looking back, obviously deciding she didn't want to talk to them anymore. Harry had a sneaky feeling she knew he'd been talking to Ginny.

"Do you ever understand her?" Ron asked suddenly. The redhead's eyes were watching Hermione enter the castle while his body remained frozen in place. Harry studied his friend's face for a moment, but there was no trace of humor or even exasperation — it seemed to be a genuine question.

"I don't even try."

Ron made an inaudible noise and shuffled his feet as he began to slowly lead the way back to the castle. "I just don't get it. I was trying to be nice to her at breakfast this morning, but she said I was making fun of her and got all hacked off at me."

Harry inwardly groaned, mostly because he didn't have an answer for his best mate. He couldn't very well ask Ginny, and he'd never understood why Hermione and Ron never got along. They were friends, to be sure, but they bickered a lot when Harry just didn't see the point behind it all.

"It's not your problem if she's nutters," Harry finally said, giving up on trying to understand. "There's nothing explainable about girls in general."

"You seem to get Ginny really well. Loads more than any of us do."

Harry's eyes flashed away from Ron and toward the ground. "Us?"

"Yeah. Me, Fred, George, Percy, and even Bill and Charlie. Everyone really. I've never seen her like she is with you. It's weird."

Again, Harry wondered how long Ron had been looking out for his little sister when no one was watching. "How do you mean?"

Ron shook his head vigorously and shrugged. "I honestly haven't a clue. It's like you two have something that none of us ever had, or ever will have. I don't know how I know it, I just do."

_Isn't that the truth,_ Harry thought quietly so Ginny wouldn't hear him. He gave Ron another appraising look, once again marveling at how much he didn't know about his best friend. He wondered if anyone else knew Ron had the kinds of deep feelings he was expressing now, and if they would think of him any differently if they knew. It certainly changed Harry's perspective. Ron had always been his best friend, but up until this year, and even at the beginning of this year, he'd just generally agreed with everyone else when they said that Ron was shallow and transparent. That wasn't the case at all — if anything, he was so deep that most people couldn't see the bottom.

"So why exactly did Hermione get hacked off at you? Did you say something?"

Ron's eyebrows furrowed hard. "I don't think so...I was trying to compliment her hair, but I think I mucked it up."

Harry wasn't sure how to respond to that as he and Ron stepped into the castle and welcome relief from the cold. Ron was in one of his rare introspective moods, and though Harry had seen it once before, seeing him like this was a little disconcerting. There was something familiar and warm about Ron being typical Ron, something that assured him that he'd always find a laugh somewhere if he hung around long enough.

"She'll come around eventually. She can't just keep getting angry with you forever."

"I suppose. I reckon you're right though — I should just stop trying. It's hopeless."

That wasn't the exact point that Harry had been trying to get across, but he wasn't about to continue the — suddenly, Harry doubled over and nearly retched, his vision spinning as his ears burned with some sort of odd music that sounded almost Muggle in nature. However, unlike earlier episodes, this one didn't subside like normal. He fell all the way to his hands and knees, gasping for breath and squeezing his eyes shut against the nausea and dizziness. He felt a rush of anger and frustration as well, which could only mean that Ginny was feeling the same thing.

The prolonged period of the spell allowed his mind to get ever so slightly adjusted to the doubling of sensory input, and when his ears weren't ringing and he wasn't concentrating on not puking all over the Entrance Hall floor, he thought he could feel himself inside of Ginny's body, except that it wasn't quite Ginny's. There was some understanding of mutual sharing, like her body wasn't quite entirely her own, and his body wasn't quite entirely his own. Nothing in words, just a vague feeling of belonging that made him believe that however he was feeling this, there was a place for him to be inside of her that would always be his. For a brief moment, he felt as though he left his own body completely for Ginny's, and she had done the same for his.

All of this happened in a few moments, and as suddenly as it had come, it was gone. Harry was left alone on the cold stone of the castle floor, breathing hard and wondering what in Merlin's name had just happened. His eyes opened for the first time, and after a brief dizzy spell, he could make out the blurry form of Ron kneeling over him and handing him something. He reached out for his glasses and clumsily put them on, which was no easy task considering his hands were shaking like mad and his mind was completely elsewhere.

"All right there, Harry?"

After a moment, Harry nodded and attempted to sit up. He was successful without help from Ron, but only barely, and it took the two of them to get Harry on his feet again.

"What was that?"

At least Harry could answer him honestly this time. "I haven't a clue."

Ron gave him an appraising look, but didn't question further. He led the way into the castle, but after a couple turns, Harry realized he wasn't heading up toward Gryffindor Tower.

"Where are we going?"

Ron shot him an 'are-you-daft?' look and rolled his eyes. "The Hospital Wing."

Harry froze in his tracks. "Why would we do that? I'm fine now, and there's nothing Madam Pomfrey can do for me."

"Hermione would skin me alive if I didn't take you. Now come on and let's get this over with."

Harry almost agreed with him, until something set of a small bell in his head. "Wait, since when do you care what Hermione wants you to do?"

It was Ron's turn to freeze, and in Harry's opinion, the redhead looked a little caught out and sheepish. It was a familiar look on his face, like a little kid who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"You want to cross her right now?"

Harry nodded and agreed, but it still didn't explain anything. "She's not here, and she'd never know. What's going on between you two?"

"You're off your nut, Harry. There's nothing _going on_ between me and Hermione." If Ron was lying, he was doing a very convincing job of it. His gaze never left Harry's face and was so intense that Harry almost wanted to shrink away from it. "It's just things are rough on her right now and I — we — shouldn't be making it harder on her."

"Maybe I should be asking you who you are," Harry muttered, mostly because he couldn't think of anything else. Ron was right, as crazy as that was, and there wasn't much else to be said, once he got past the craziness of Ron looking out for Hermione's emotional interests. However, Ron ignored him and continued toward the hospital wing, giving Harry no choice but to follow.

------

Hermione was nowhere to be found when Harry and Ron finally got back to the common room. Madam Pomfrey had insisted on running extra tests because of all the odd things that had been happening to Harry since coming back to the school, which took an eternity and then some. The medi-witch muttered occasionally about dementors, but it didn't seem that line of thinking got her anywhere. When she'd let Harry go, she reluctantly gave him a clean bill of health, though she didn't seem happy about it.

Harry knew Ginny was waiting for them by the fire, but he wasn't sure if she would come talk to them or just wait for him to go over to her. In all honesty, he didn't care. He and Ginny would be fine, it was just a question of when they would work out what was between them. A large part of it was Hermione, so until Harry resolved his issues there, he didn't think talking to Ginny would do much good. Just thinking about it made him feel like he was in one of those soaps that Aunt Petunia always listened to on the wireless.

"I think I'm going to head off to bed early," Ron said. Harry murmured an acknowledgment and followed his friend up the stairs to pick up his bag before returning to the common room alone. He found an empty table easily (there were several — most of the Gryffindors were in front of the warm fire) and settled into his Transfiguration homework, which was twice as hard seeing as he hadn't learned it in class. It wasn't long before he felt Ginny stand up and shuffle over to sit next to him.

"You aren't angry with me."

Harry shook his head. "You're right."

"So why?"

Harry put his quill down and took his glasses off so he could rub his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Because you and Hermione aren't getting along."

"I know that," Ginny said impatiently. Harry sighed and wondered if this was finally something that he got and Ginny truly didn't, or if she was just playing stupid to make him say it. He wasn't sure how to express what he wanted, so he just kept his mouth shut and let her think about it for a while.

"You're going to have to talk to me eventually." She sounded and felt even more peeved with every passing minute. Harry sighed and shook his head.

"Ginny, whatever I do I'm going to have someone angry with me. I just didn't think that it would be a good idea for both you and Hermione to come."

She huffed indignantly. "Well, considering that I'm inside your head, don't you think you should pay just a little bit more attention to me?"

Harry's eyes snapped toward her face, though it was more than a little blurry pink spot surrounded by a beautiful color of red. He wished he'd heard her wrong, but he knew he hadn't by the jealousy and insecurity that he felt from her. It bordered on selfishness.

"I can't just be around you all the time, Ginny. Hermione is my friend too, and I'm not going to stop being around her just because you don't like her."

"But all she wants to do is hurt us!"

Harry's feelings hardened and even before he opened his mouth, he felt Ginny recoil from him. For a split second, he wondered if their feelings were so real to each other that they could hurt.

"No, she doesn't, and don't ever say that."

Ginny looked like she was about to respond, but her eyes tracked up to something behind Harry and her mouth closed. She suddenly stood, grabbed her book, and headed off toward the girls' staircase without another word. Harry had almost reached for his glasses when he heard Hermione's voice behind him.

"I can go if you two want to talk."

Harry turned and looked at her before shaking his head. "No, I don't really want to talk to her right now." He noticed that Hermione had her Arithmancy book in her arms. "Did you want to study now?"

She looked uncomfortable for a moment, and then sat down in the chair that Ginny had just vacated. "Can I ask you something Harry?"

Tired of seeing everything blurry, Harry slipped his glasses back on and Hermione's face came into view. It was a huge difference from what he remembered her being — she had dark circles under her eyes, and she looked as though she could use a warm meal and a good night's rest. He couldn't remember how she'd started looking so...unhealthy, but even more disturbing was the fact that he'd missed it before now.

"Sure..."

"Why does Ginny hate me so much?"

The question wasn't surprising, but the wording caught him a little off-guard. He'd never associated the word hate with Ginny's feelings toward Hermione, but then again, he had an inside track to the younger girl's emotions that Hermione didn't. Harry took a breath to keep himself from growing in frustration.

"She doesn't hate you, Hermione, she just doesn't like other people knowing about certain things."

Hermione's lips thinned as she entered an obvious problem solving mode. "It's not just that, Harry."

"She doesn't like you because she wants me all to herself."

At this revelation, Hermione's eyes widened and her mouth formed a small "o" and her fingers began flipping at the corners of her Arithmancy book in an obvious sign of nervousness and confusion.

"She told you that?"

Harry shook his head again. "No, but even I'm not daft enough to miss it." _Well, I was until five minutes ago._ "I don't know why though."

"I suppose your connection might have something to do with it." Hermione gave short, harsh laugh at that and set her book on the table. "And maybe one day you'll understand you're that special." When Harry didn't respond, she continued, "I hope you're not angry with me."

"Why would I be angry with you?"

The look she gave him made an answer irrelevant. Harry hung his head and knew now was the time to apologize, but it didn't make it any easier.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you and everything. I was just worried about Ginny and she was yelling at me."

Hermione adopted a half-relieved, half-wistful expression that really didn't tell Harry anything. "It's all right. I'll try to stay out of your way more."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows and studied her face, looking for a clue. "Why would you say that?"

Hermione snorted derisively. "I'm not blind."

His confusion increased. "What do you mean?"

"Don't worry about it. I understand." She picked up her book again and yawned, though it looked rather fake even to Harry. "I'm going to call it a night. Sleep well."

Harry wanted to reach out to stop her, to figure out what she was talking about, but she was gone before he could figure out what to say. He had thought that apologizing and talking about it would make everything go away, but there was something still bothering Hermione and apparently there was nothing he could do about it. He sat for a long time staring at the fire, just thinking until Dean wandered over to ask if he was all right. Harry assured him he was and followed his dorm mate up to bed, though sleep did not come easily.

------

The next morning came entirely too quickly and what rest Harry did get almost wasn't worth it. He had a headache from being awoken from a deep sleep by the alarm on his wand, and he felt like he'd been sleeping out in the cold and on a rock instead of his warm, comfortable bed. When Ron asked why he looked like he hadn't slept, he feigned ignorance, but he knew he never slept well when he was fighting with Ginny, and his conversation with Hermione hadn't exactly helped.

He ate with Hermione and Ron because Ginny was nowhere to be found. He knew she was still up in the dorms, attempting to sleep, but he didn't mention this to anyone. His relationship with Hermione was back to normal, though there seemed to be something a little off about her in general, namely she was quieter and more subdued. He chalked it up to lack of sleep and general fatigue from doing so much more work than everyone else, but he wasn't sure if he really believed that. He made a mental note to ask her how she did it all sometime.

Harry did make sure that Ginny got up in time to get to classes, which she did, just barely. She tried to brush off his mental presence and ignore him, but there wasn't much she could do to shut him out other than getting progressively more annoyed as the day went on. Eventually Harry stopped trying to think about her and left her alone, which was rewarded by a sense of relief flooding through them. The two barely saw each other all day, and even in the common room after Quidditch practice (which only Ron had come to watch) Ginny didn't look at him and they didn't say a word. It was great for going over Arithmancy because he learned loads and Hermione complimented him on how fast they were able to get through the material, but that didn't comfort him at all when Ginny headed off to bed still without talking to him or even really thinking about him. Even if she was angry, he'd expected her to check on him mentally before she tried to sleep, but he was wrong about that as well.

As a result of the conditions between himself and Ginny, as well as a long and grueling Quidditch practice the night before, the next morning Harry stepped into the dungeons feeling tired, irritable, and generally sluggish. It didn't help his mood to find out that Ginny was skipping classes and staying in bed, though what brought it on he hadn't a clue. After a moment of thinking about it and letting Ron pull out the potions supplies alone, he decided that she must have had an important class or test the day before which prevented her from skiving off. That would explain the nervousness that he'd felt from her all during her first class.

It took less than three minutes before he felt the familiar, slimy presence of Snape against the door to his mind. He should have expected it given his state of appearance and mental stability, but his thoughts had been elsewhere and he almost lashed out at the presence before thinking. Instead, as the greasy haired git entered his mind, Harry methodically pulled his thoughts away from Snape and tried to keep calm, but the vindictiveness and the liberties that the Potions master took with his mind were infuriating. After a minute or so, Harry started to present unimportant thoughts like wondering what would be at lunch today or who was at the top of the professional Quidditch league to Snape in an effort to slow him down. The plan worked, but watching his thoughts torn apart and discarded in such a brutal nature made Harry feel violated. He felt the thoughts ripped from his head like plucking a hair from his scalp, and though he could always recreate his line of thinking, there was something inhumane about it.

After a while, he couldn't keep up with both Snape and the potion brewing, so he stopped and let Ron take over. The redhead gave him a questioning look, but Harry's eyes went unfocused and he didn't respond, and Ron knew better than to ask Snape if Harry could go to the Hospital Wing. The war continued for a good fifteen or twenty minutes before Harry could tell that Snape had reached a breaking point. The Snape figure in his mind froze and Harry had barely tuned back into his senses before he heard Snape's voice cracking like a whip in his ears.

"Potter! Are you going to let Weasley do _all_ the work for you?"

Harry said nothing, though his anger wanted to lash out for all he was worth. There really wasn't anything he could say that wouldn't make the situation a lot worse.

"I suppose that's a zero for the day, Mr. Potter," Snape said casually, picking up a clipboard and scribbling something on it. At that, Harry's anger boiled over.

"At least I'm not the only one _failing_." His voice was low and cold, and the spite he put on the last word left his meaning clear. Snape's eyes widened and narrowed in an instant, his expression morphing to one of pure loathing that he reserved especially for Harry.

"I'll see you in my office after class," Snape replied coolly. Harry tensed for another attack, but it didn't come, and didn't come for the entire rest of the class. He could tell Ron wanted to ask him what that was all about, but with Snape obviously on the warpath (he was correcting every Gryffindor at least once every five minutes, double for Neville because Harry had put away his materials after receiving a zero), it wasn't such a good idea to even whisper in class.

Harry did notice that Ginny was wide-awake now and restless. He wished he could block his anxiety and give her peace to sleep, but he knew every encounter with Snape would incite new levels of anger, which would only wake her up again and make her more irritated. After Tuesday had been blissfully free of strange perceptions, the sense sharing had returned full force and had become a constant irritant between them. It was something that Harry could deal with even though it irritated him, but Ginny seemed to be in a right state over it and poised to lash out at any moment. For whatever reason, she wasn't taking well to this new facet to their bond.

Instead of trying to puzzle Ginny out, Harry tried to mind his own business and blocked out thoughts of her by watching Hermione intently and trying to memorize the steps to making a proper potion. Even if he couldn't directly practice, he still might learn something and pass midterm exams when December came around.

After the lesson was over, Harry noticed Hermione give him an odd, longing sort of look before she turned and headed out the door. Before he could decipher what it might have meant, Snape dropped a rather heavy book on his desk and drew Harry's attention.

"Do you want to explain exactly what you meant by your comment, Mr. Potter? I'm sure you know which I am speaking of."

Harry took a breath to buy himself some time, then used the line he'd spent all of class conceiving of as a response.

"I meant that you fail at least one Gryffindor per class, Professor." He tried to keep the contempt out of his voice, but even being around Hermione for most of the last two years hadn't taught him how to sound entirely like a perfect student. Merlin, even Hermione couldn't when she was talking about Snape sometimes.

"You and I both know that wasn't your true meaning."

Harry felt victory, though his lips couldn't have curved into a smile even if he wanted them to. "I'm not sure what you mean, Professor."

"You know exactly what I mean, Potter."

Harry paused for a good amount of time and tried to appear confused. There wasn't much he could do to make his face cooperate at the moment, but he figured the exhausted look wasn't that far off from what he wanted.

"Honestly Professor, I haven't a clue. Maybe you could tell me what you think I meant?"

Snape growled irritably and lashed out mentally once more, causing Harry to react instinctively. Before either of them knew what happened, Snape was blown back into his chair and mind-Harry was standing with his wand out and pointed at a crumpled mind-Snape that was crushed against a wall. Harry briefly remembered casting a boils curse at him as he had Malfoy only three days before, but the reaction had been so fast that he wasn't sure.

"That stir your memory Potter?" Snape seethed as he stood once again.

"No, Professor, are you all right? I don't even know what happened, I just felt something on my head, and then something happened to you." Asking if Snape was all right was probably a little over the top, but Harry wanted to make sure he didn't let on that he knew anything.

"I'm fine Potter, and don't think you can lie to me."

_I can because you can't use Legilimency on me anymore,_ Harry thought nastily. "I'm not, Professor."

"Get out of my sight."

Harry did just that, remembering to collect his supplies as he felt his body draining of adrenaline. It always happened like this. By the time he got to the door, he just felt exhausted and drained, and wished he could go curl up in his bed for a few days. The only positive side of this was he felt Ginny calming down with him, and he hoped for her sake that she could get some rest.

"What did Snape want?" Ron asked almost immediately as Harry exited the door. He saw Hermione wince and take a step behind Ron, which confused him to the point of stopping and staring at her. Normally she would have been the first one to make sure he was alright and find out what Snape wanted, but right now she seemed almost...scared.

"Nothing...he just didn't like me mouthing back to him," Harry replied absently as Hermione shifted further behind Ron, obviously avoiding his gaze. It was yet another thing he needed to ask her about, but for now he left her alone and transferred his attention to moving toward lunch. Maybe some food would make him feel better.

------

Food did make him feel a little better, but surprisingly, Defense Against the Dark Arts did nothing to improve his mood. The moment he saw Lupin, he averted his gaze and tried to make himself as little as possible. He could tell that the old professor wanted to talk to him, but he couldn't explain that his fight with Ginny was causing his rapid decline in health. Luckily, Lupin seemed to guess this too and generally left him alone, even letting him stay silent during class discussion. More than once, Harry caught Hermione sneaking looks at him, but every time this happened, she would turn away and focus intently on Lupin. She'd been acting pretty much the same all day, but with Ron around, Harry didn't want to ask because he knew he wouldn't get an answer.

Afterwards, the trio headed down toward dinner, though conversation was thin at best, as it had been all day. Finally, Harry couldn't take it anymore.

"I feel like a dementor." When both Ron and Hermione gave him curious looks, he explained. "Just because I'm tired doesn't mean you two have to stop talking."

"Well, you do look a little peaky..." Hermione said, then pressed her lips into a thin line and looked away. Harry was about to ask her about that when Ron spoke.

"Yeah, are you sure you're all right mate? I mean I know Madam Pomfrey said you were okay, but I don't know."

Hermione's gaze snapped up and her eyes flashed, which prepared Harry for a long lecture about his health and an intense questioning about what had happened. In fact, she'd gotten so far as opening her mouth before she closed it and thought better of it. Harry had to remind himself to keep one foot in front of the other and move his eyes every once in a while so he didn't stop and stare at her. Something was definitely different about Hermione, something that disconcerted him quite a bit. It just wasn't Hermione to leave something like that alone.

"Madam Pomfrey knows what she's talking about Ron. I'm sure Harry will be perfectly fine after a good night's rest."

Harry threw a glance at Ron, who obviously was seeing the same things. Neither of them were sure how to respond to Hermione when she agreed with them on something and didn't call them out on leaving her out of the loop. It was strange — until now, Harry hadn't realized how much Hermione's nagging had developed a place in their relationship. It was almost like there was something missing when she wasn't nagging about something or another.

"I hope so." Harry said as a sardonic smile worked its way onto his face. "I suppose Black would be disappointed if something got to me before he could." Ron and Hermione both looked at him with wide eyes, but Harry ignored them as they worked their way into the Great Hall for dinner.

------

As the trio approached the Fat Lady after a wonderful meal, Harry felt a great sense of foreboding. He knew Ginny was in the common room, and judging by her feelings, she was looking for a bit of a fight. After a day of tossing and turning and not getting much sleep (Harry had checked on her periodically and it had always been the same), Ginny had gotten food from somewhere and eaten it the common room sometime between lunch and dinner. Harry had considered bringing something up for her, but he'd observed without asking that it probably would have wound up on his face before in her stomach. Apathy was always a warning sign to a big explosion from the small redhead.

"I'm going to head down to the library if either of you would like to join me." Hermione said, though her gaze drifted naturally to Harry. Though it sounded like a good idea to get away from Ginny, he didn't want to waste this opportunity to have it out with her. In light of Ron's sentiments earlier in the week, it seemed like a good chance for the two to have a decent time together. Besides, he didn't want Ron around while he was having it out with Ginny, so he sneakily reached his foot out and kicked his best friend in the shoe as he replied to Hermione.

"I might come down later, if you're still there."

Hermione nodded and threw a half-questioning, half-bored look at Ron.

"Actually, Hermione, would you mind if I came along?"

Clearly shocked, Hermione had to stop moving and give Ron an appraising look before responding.

"You really want to come?"

The redhead shrugged and shoved his hands into his robe's pockets. "If you don't mind."

"No...No, of course I don't. Why would I?"

Ron shifted his weight from one foot to another, obviously uncomfortable. "I don't know. No reason. What are you going to be working on?"

"Well, I was going to work on Runes since Harry wasn't coming, but we can work on anything you'd like."

Ron shrugged and turned slightly pink. Harry was finding an odd sort of amusement from the conversation in that it was the first in a long time where Ron was showing interest in something that Hermione liked. Exactly why was beyond the point — he could figure that out later.

"I suppose I could use help in Runes."

"Great."

Both of them stared at each other for a second, then turned and hurried to get their books at the exact same moment. Being the third person observer, Harry found this immensely amusing and shook his head as a smile formed on his face. Ron might have denied it, but there was something different about him and Hermione all right. Harry had always felt that their friendship only came because they were friends with him, but perhaps that was about to change. He knew they'd been talking and spending more time together since he and Ginny had started to spend time together, but he'd never seen something like this coming. It was almost like they were starting to really become the best friends everyone had assumed them to be.

As Ron and Hermione left through the portrait hole together, Harry moved over and sat down by the fire to warm up and threw a casual glance at Ginny, who was on the opposite side of the room and had been pretending to be doing homework since he'd walked in. He supposed she'd been getting actual work done before now, but he'd felt her attention shift over to and lock onto him the moment he appeared in the common room. He knew homework was one of the last things on her mind, so he considered going up to his dorm to give her space to work, but he knew she would just use that against him in any future conversation. They were both thinking about the other and both of them knew it, so there wasn't any backing down now.

Ginny must have sensed this as well because she packed up her books and shouldered her bag to come sit by Harry. Well, they sat on the same two person wide couch, but as far as Harry was concerned, there might have been an ocean between them. It had only been a couple minutes of silence between them when the air in front of Harry burst into flame and Fawkes appeared in front of them with a note in his beak. Harry's eyes widened as he remembered that today was Thursday and he was supposed to be in detention with Dumbledore. With everything that had been going on, he'd forgotten completely about it.

_Harry,_

_If you would meet me in my office at eight, you can begin your weekly detentions._

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

Harry looked over at Ginny, who was trying her best not to appear curious. It was pointless when Harry could feel her feelings just as well as she could, but that didn't change her stubborn streak one bit.

"I have to go to detention."

"Okay."

Her indifference was only skin deep, though Harry could tell she was really trying not to care that he'd somehow avoided her once again. He sighed and gave her a glance as he stood, trying not to think about what kind of detention Dumbledore might create. He wanted to say something else to Ginny, but he couldn't think of anything and so he headed off toward Dumbledore's office without a word.

------

"Come in, Harry. Have a seat."

Harry resisted giving the Headmaster an odd look and took the offered chair, wondering what exactly his detention could be. They weren't going anywhere for the time being — Dumbledore looked quite settled in — but what kind of detention could he serve in an office?

"I suppose you're wondering what your detention might entail," Dumbledore said with that familiar twinkle in his eye. "Don't worry, it's nothing too difficult. I just thought we might use this time to discuss a few things."

That was it? Surely having a talk with Dumbledore couldn't be his entire punishment for attacking a student, could it? Not that Harry would enjoy this time, but it wasn't nearly as bad as some of the other detentions he'd served.

"Er...okay?"

Dumbledore chuckled, sat up in his chair, and folded his hands in front of him. "I could assign you to assist Mr. Filch with scrubbing down the castle, but I doubt you would learn much of anything other than a healthy respect for magical cleaners. No Harry, I am much more interested in other things."

Harry swallowed and shifted uncomfortably. "Other things?"

"Quite a few of them, actually, and the first has to do with your parents."

Harry blinked, not sure if he could believe his ears. "My...parents?"

"I believe it is time that you knew the whole story of how your parents died."

A cold fist of dread crept its way over Harry's heart as he took in what Dumbledore was about to tell him. He knew that Voldemort had found his parents and killed them on Halloween of 1981, but that was all he knew, and all he thought there was to know. He realized now that he didn't know why Voldemort had wanted to kill his parents, or even him. Why would Voldemort go after a little baby?

_Harry? Are you all right?_

_I'm fine Ginny._

_What's wrong? You feel cold._

_Nothing's wrong. I'm with Dumbledore._

_Fine, I'll leave you alone since you don't want me around anyway._

Harry felt her frustration and anger at him, but he was too distracted to think about it much. He looked up at Dumbledore, who was peering down at him through his half-moon spectacles patiently.

"Th—There's a story?"

"Quite a sad one, unfortunately, and one that involves Sirius Black. Do you wish to hear it?"

Harry gulped and nodded. He would never be ready to hear about his parents' deaths, but he couldn't very well refuse to know. He wanted to know everything that had anything to do with James and Lily Potter.

"Some time before your parents died, one of our best spies informed me that Voldemort would soon be coming after James and Lily. At this time, you were only barely a year old and wouldn't be able to be moved quickly enough to escape Voldemort and his allies forever. Once I learned that their lives were in danger, I advised both your mother and father to go into hiding under the Fidelius Charm."

Dumbledore paused, which was a good thing because Harry was having trouble taking it all in. Even such small pieces of information blew his mind — his parents had _known_ that they were targets of Voldemort? How long had they been in hiding? What had happened to expose them?

"Fidelius Charm?" Harry managed to ask.

"Ah, yes, the Fidelus Charm. When James and Lily went into hiding, there was no place in England that was safe from the reach of Lord Voldemort. However, when cast properly, the Fidelius Charm conceals a secret inside a single living soul, and in this case, the location of you and your parents was the secret to be kept. Thus, the soul chosen to hold the secret is called a Secret-Keeper. Once the spell is cast, only the Secret-Keeper can divulge the information inside of him or her, and he or she must do so willingly."

Harry felt another horrible chill run down his spine. If what Dumbledore was saying was true, then someone would have had to betray his mum and dad.

"Someone betrayed them?"

"Your father and a young Sirius Black were inseparable at school." Harry's eyes widened in shock, but Dumbledore continued as if merely commenting on the fall colors. "Troublemakers to a fault, but very talented and very loyal. They remained friends even after they left Hogwarts, and there was no one James trusted more."

"I offered to be the Potters' Secret-Keeper on more than one occasion, but James was insistent that it be Mr. Black, believing that he would die rather than betray the Potters. They held off as long as they could, but eventually Lily cast the charm and put themselves into hiding. I didn't receive word until later that they had — it was a sudden decision."

Harry's eyebrows furrowed. There were so many questions, so many things he wanted to know, but he hadn't a clue how to ask him. He finally just blurted out the obvious.

"Why didn't you cast the Charm?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Lily was always a natural in Charms that I could never hope to match. She could have been the most proficient Charms Mistress of our age if had she been given more time. Of course, the same could be said for her Potion brewing as well."

Harry had never considered that Dumbledore could be a wealth of information about his parents — he had been their Headmaster, after all. He wanted nothing more to ask questions about his mum and dad until dawn broke, but though he had a sinking feeling he knew the end of the story, he wanted to hear it from Dumbledore.

"So what happened?"

"As you might have guessed, not a week after the Charm was performed, Mr. Black betrayed your parents to Lord Voldemort and led them right to their home. I believe you know the rest."

Harry nodded, suddenly at a loss for words. Now that the shock was wearing off, he could feel a cold sort of anger building inside of him, one directed entirely at Sirius Black. Not only had he attacked Ginny, but he'd betrayed his parents to Voldemort as well? What was next?

"Now Harry, I did not tell you this so you could seek revenge, I told you because you deserve to know the truth. Black is still very dangerous, and I believe he wishes to finish the job his master began. Twelve years in Azkaban is long enough to drive any man to insanity."

Harry nodded blankly, but that didn't calm his fury at all. Everyone related to Voldemort wanted him dead, but this was entirely different — it was personal.

"I understand, Professor." Even as he said the words, he could hear the cold anger in his voice and feel it in his gut. Dumbledore looked down at him with concerned eyes, but he ignored them. All he could think about was the fact that his parents' best friend had betrayed them to Voldemort, and now that best friend wanted to kill him too.

After a few seconds of feeling powerless in his chair, Harry noticed that Dumbledore was offering him a rather odd looking sphere that he recognized as a stress ball.

"A rather ingenious Muggle remedy for frustration, if you'd like."

Harry almost refused, but instead, he stood and snatched one of the ball out of Dumbledore's hand and then threw it as hard as he could against the castle wall. It bounced off at an odd angle and smashed into one of the silver trinkets that Harry had hardly noticed this time around. A inordinately loud BANG! issued and a puff of blood red smoke dissipated into the air. For whatever reason, the noise calmed Harry's frayed nerves a little and allowed him to at least get control of himself as he sat back down.

"I...I'm sorry about that Professor."

Unless Harry was mistaken, he thought he saw Dumbledore sliding his wand back up his sleeve. "It's quite all right Harry. I can only imagine the pain you must be feeling."

Harry said nothing. Dumbledore was right — nothing he'd ever felt compared to this, except the night Ginny had been attacked, and Dumbledore couldn't relate to that either. No one could.

"Perhaps this is not the best time to continue this conversation. I think we can adjourn for now, and I will see you here next Thursday at the same time."

He wanted to refuse, or do something, but he could think of nothing, so he silently left the office, wishing there was a door he could slam behind him.

------

Harry considered going to the library to join Ron and Hermione, but he didn't want to disturb them if they were getting along and actually having a good time. Instead, he just headed back up to the common room, trying not to notice that Ginny was still there. He knew he should talk to her, or at least make some sort of gesture that he noticed her, but he knew that any conversation between them wouldn't end well, especially in his current mood.

When he got to the dormitory, he found Dean and Seamus discussing the finer points of female anatomy (a conversation he did not want to be a part of), so he trudged back downstairs to sit in front of the fire and under the dark cloud that he felt above his head. It didn't really matter — he was entitled to be angry and depressed if he wanted.

"Having a tantrum there Potter?"

Ginny's voice wasn't the last thing he expected, but it was quite close. It was almost as if she wanted to fight this out rather than wait until they were both calmer.

"I'm not in a good mood and I don't want to fight with you."

"You don't want to fight with me? I suppose I'm not surprised."

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes, making an effort to not look at her. "Look, I haven't a clue what you're talking about and I don't care to find out, so you might as well give up."

He was rewarded with silence after that, though Ginny moved over to sit across from him on the other couch, pushing Neville out of the way to do so. He felt her eyes boring into him, but as much as he could he ignored it, though he could see flashes of himself in her vision. It wasn't the best time for something like this to happen, but he supposed at least if they were sitting down, they couldn't hurt themselves. Fortunately, after a while the flashes faded and his vision became his own again.

"So you're just going to ignore me?" Ginny finally asked.

"Something like that."

She made a frustrated noise and then resumed her staring. Harry guessed that she was waiting for him to move, but if she was, she would be waiting a while. He was quite content staring at the wall and thinking about everything he'd learned. Harry had no idea how much time passed before he felt the rise in Ginny's anger and her low growl of frustration. No one else reacted to it, so it must have been in his mind and intended for him. Against his better judgment, he turned to look at her for the first time that night.

"What?"

"You know what."

Harry rolled his eyes. "No Ginny, really, I don't."

"What did Dumbledore do to you?"

"What makes you think he did anything?"

Ginny snorted derisively. "Give me a break, Harry. You go up there for detention and a half an hour later, you come back in a cold fury. What else am I supposed to think?"

"He just told me a few things. That's all."

"What did he tell you?"

"It's none of your business," Harry snapped and then returned to staring at the wall. He could feel shock mixing with her anger, but it only seemed to add fuel to the fire. He wondered if she kept up like this if she'd explode.

"I guess I thought we were close and that anything that matters to you mattered to me, but I guess not. It shouldn't surprise me, really."

Harry rolled his head back and looked around the room, trying to keep a lid on his own frustration. Ginny could be a real pain at times. He noticed Seamus and Dean had come down at some point and were in a conversation with Lavender and Parvati, though the girls seemed to be looking more over at him than anywhere else. Lavender must have noticed his gaze because she turned pink and nudged Parvati before turning away.

"Noticed them, have you?" Ginny asked with feigned politeness.

"What about them?"

Ginny laughed. "Oh come on, don't tell me Harry Potter doesn't know what a girl is. It's not that hard to figure out."

"You're plenty hard enough to figure out for all of us, I don't need anything else."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Harry didn't answer. He finally had the upper hand and he could just let Ginny stew in it for a while. He smiled inwardly as he felt her anger turn into something of a rage — for some very odd reason, at the moment he loved seeing her so furious.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

He smiled outwardly now. "I suppose just a little."

Finally, he got the effect he wanted. Her voice raised to a slightly higher than normal volume and she leaned forward with an infuriated expression. "You are such an arse!"

"Am I? And how's that?"

Ginny growled menacingly. "I think you know exactly what I'm talking about, and it's not just now!"

The first hints of confusion entered his mind, which caused Ginny's eyes to widen slightly.

"You really don't know?"

"Oh, what am I supposed to do, read your mind?" By now, his voice was rising steadily with hers and drawing casual glances from others around the common room.

"You don't need to read my mind to figure it out, Harry. In fact, you don't even really need to know me. You just can't be an idiot!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Okay, I admit it, I'm an idiot. Now will you lay it out for me?"

"No. If you can't figure it out, then I'm going to bed." Ginny stood up and grabbed her bag, but Harry grabbed her other wrist and held her.

"Ginny, we're going to work this out. You know we can't sleep if we're fighting."

She pulled on her hand, though not quite forcibly. "Some things are more important than sleep. Now let me go."

Harry ignored her request. "Like what? Confusing me because I don't know what you're hacked off about?"

"No, like proving a point. Seriously Harry, let me go. If you wanted to talk to me, you have had plenty of time to do it."

She wasn't going anywhere, but Harry did notice Dean dart out of the common room after taking a rather long look at them. He puzzled over that for a moment, but shoved it out of his mind. He had more important things to worry about.

"And what point is that? That I wander around in the dark until you tell me what's going on?"

By now, their voices were raised to the level where most of the common room looked up to see what was going on. A tiny voice in Harry's head was telling him not to do this now, to do this in a private place where no one would accidentally overhear something, or even know what they were fighting about at all.

"I gave you a chance," Ginny said nastily before pulling her wand out of her bag with her other hand. She whispered an incantation and suddenly something invisible stung the back of Harry's hand hard, forcing his grip on her wrist to relax and allow her to slip away. "Maybe next time you'll listen to me." She headed toward the girls' staircase, but in Harry's mind, she'd crossed a line that involved the use of magic. A half second later, he had his own wand out.

"_Expelliarmus!_" Harry growled with a powerful flip of the wrist, which was followed by a flash of red light, an angry scarlet beam of light exploding from his wand, and a squeal from Ginny as she smashed into the wall next to the girls' staircase. Her wand and bag zoomed straight into Harry's outstretched hands even as Ginny slid to the floor. Several gasps were heard as Harry set both the wand and the bag in the chair where he'd been sitting and waited for Ginny's head to clear. Gradually, a pure and towering rage flowed through both of them as Ginny stood and turned toward him, something low and visceral on her face. It looked as though she'd been holding back a mountain of anger and it was just now finding its way out.

"_How dare you!_" Ginny growled in a low, menacing voice that could be mistaken for nothing but a challenge. Harry put his wand away and stepped toward her as she strode toward him. Before he saw her hand rise, he felt an extremely painful stinging on his cheek and his head jerked sideways so hard his neck groaned in protest. When he straightened out, he could see the burning coals in Ginny's eyes that told him there was no turning back. Up until now, he'd stayed relatively calm by blocking both his own irritation and her rage, but now he welcomed it and embraced it.

"You ready to tell me what this is all about?"

"So the kitty has come out to play, has he? I didn't think you had it in you." Her voice was rough, scathing, and challenging all in one, and finally Harry hit a limit in his patience.

"What in the bloody HELL is that supposed to mean?!"His voice was loud enough to echo inside the common room and silence the rest of the Gryffindors, who'd looked up to see what was going on. Somewhere off in the distance he thought he heard Percy's voice, but all of his attention was focused on the girl right in front of him.

"You know very well what it means! You can't stand up for yourself, and I'm sick of it!"

Harry's smile turned a touch predatory. "I'm doing a fine job of standing up to you!"

Ginny laughed derisively and rolled her eyes. "Even being the git you are, you know exactly who I'm talking about, and it's not me."

That one Harry did get, and he really didn't like where that line was going. By now, he wasn't sure whether he was angry at Ginny, or whether Ginny's anger was making him angry, but it didn't matter anymore. Ginny had finally gone too far in her suggesting about Hermione.

"Did you ever consider that I don't _want_ to stand up for myself sometimes? That it's YOU who wants to stand up for me?"

Ginny's smile widened to match his. "Give me a break, Potter. You can't lie to me. I know exactly how you feel about it."

"Oh _really?_" Harry sneered. "Then maybe you should get your facts straight, because you are wrong. Completely, flat-out wrong."

"Am I?" Ginny's voice raised. "Then tell me why you put up with feeling strangled all the time! Tell me why you just don't say something! For the love of Merlin, Potter, tell me why you let yourself be RUN OVER like that!"

"RUN OVER? Is that what you think it is?"

"That's EXACTLY what it is! You're just too afraid of hurting someone's feelings to tell them when to back off!"

"Back off from WHAT?"

Ginny's eyes flashed as she drew a breath. "There's a big difference between BEST FRIEND and OVERPOSSESSIVE BITCH!"

"I'm not AFRAID of ANYTHING! YOU'RE just JEALOUS!" Harry roared. "_Some_ of us never had people to care for us as little kids! _Some_ of us never knew what it was like to have someone who actually wanted to help us!" Harry felt Ginny's anger fall off sharply in favor of horror, but he didn't feel like stopping. Suddenly, he felt a cold sort of anger course through his veins, something that smacked of bloodlust. He felt himself start to hiss, but it was too late to hold back now. "_SSSOME of ussss would like having sssssomeone around that makesss ussss feel like we matter! Like we didn't have to ssssneak around at night looking for food to sssurvive! Like I don't have to be beaten just to make the only people I know HAPPY!_" By now, Harry was breathing heavily and sweating in anger but he hardly noticed, just like he hardly noticed the last bit was in Parseltongue. He saw the horror in Ginny's eyes, and he saw her shrink away from him, but he couldn't resist one last barb in booming, enraged English for the world to hear.

**"**Some of us never had older brothers to take care of us! Maybe, JUST FOR ONCE, I'd like a** SISTER **I'VE ALWAYS **DREAMED** **OF** TO **TAKE CARE OF ME!"**

With that, Harry felt a blinding flash of white light, a tremendous bang, and then his entire vision went black. Two things came to mind before passing out. One, he'd never meant to scream out his feelings for the entire common room to hear, and two, the back of his head hit something very hard that resounded with a extremely loud _THACK!_

* * *

_**A/N: **Ahhhh! I'm so sorry for the length between updates, I've been doing a lot of other things and worrying about school and stuffs. If you're interested, I'm going to post to my LJ with a longer excuse as to why I haven't been writing, but suffice to say that I just haven't been inspired. _

Now that I'm back, I've got a bit of a twist I'm adding to Soul Nexus. I really want to show the progression of Ron and Hermione's friendship, but some of the conversations aren't where Harry or Ginny can hear them, and this poses a point of view problem. To get around this, every time I write a Ron/Hermione scene in a chapter, I'm going to cut it out and make an outtake in the form of a oneshot that will supplement the main story. Because of how the queue works on SIYE, it'll probably be a day or so between when the main chapter is posted and when the oneshot shows up, but you'll be able to find it anywhere else I post chapters. (FFnet, LJ, Files section of my google group)

Too Long, Didn't Read: There's going to be Ron/Hermione oneshot supplements to Soul Nexus. You should go check out the one for this chapter! )

Anywho, the story that got me back into writing again was Harry Potter and the Toll of Destiny b legobean. I hope he/she doesn't mind me advertising his/her story, but it really is a good one and got me inspired. If you haven't already, you should go check it out. _Interestingly enough, this chapter went through the most heavy editing I've ever done. There were entire scenes cut and added even after I'd finished it, and every time I got an email from one of my two awesome betas there was something to be changed. So a big thank you both to **kiramythos** and **Terashi **for their hard work._

_Okay, I'm out of stuff to say, so I hope you enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review! They'll make something nice to come back and reply to when I get back from my internet deprivation that is known as a family reunion in the mountains. xD_


	12. Fallout

**12: Fallout**

The next thought Harry had was filled entirely with pain. Specifically pain of the entire body, the kind that didn't let him think or move without his head throbbing painfully and inserting a pathetic moan between every thought. The kind that when he tried to open his eyes, there was a sledgehammer-like sensation waiting for him as his eye sockets burned and he re-closed them as fast as humanly possible, which couldn't be quick enough. White splotches danced across the inside of his eyelids as he groaned and tried to curl up into a ball, only to find that his arms and legs were strapped down.

_What the..._

The agony in his head stopped him from completing the thought. He felt something cool on his lips, suddenly making him realize his throat was sandpaper dry. The water (he thought it was water) was nothing short of bliss, though swallowing only made his skull feel like a thousand hammers were bashing it in. The water was followed quickly by something he almost threw up, but by force of will swallowed. It tasted so bad that somehow he knew it could only help him. Shortly afterwards, he felt himself drifting off again. In his last desperate moments, he reached out for anything he could grab.

_Ginny..._

------

"Please...Harry...just wake up. I need to know you're okay."

The voice was far, extremely far away, but he'd know it even if it was silent. He wanted to move toward it, and tried to, but he found he couldn't. In fact, he couldn't do much of anything, including feel his body. Once he realized this, he instinctively screamed out in terror, and equally far off, he heard his own voice let out a piercing scream. Suddenly, feeling shot through his body and he tried to move his arms and legs, but something at his ankles and wrists held him down. He struggled frantically against them, ignoring the feeling of his face being pressed against something soft and warm.

"Harry, please, don't do this. You're going to be okay, I promise."

The sound of Ginny's near whisper calmed him, and the sudden rush of feeling her presence next to him as well, but he still pulled against the restraints.

_Where am I? Why can't I see? Why am I tied down?_

_We had to, Harry. Show me you're in control and I'll take them off._

He tried to listen to her, but panic was still running through his system and he still felt as though he had to get out. He tried to focus on her presence, but he couldn't lock onto it as he struggled harder against the restraints.

"Harry, please. I don't like seeing you like this. You have to get control."

The warmth against his cheek pressed harder and whatever was wrapped around his head tightened. He suddenly realized Ginny was lying against his side, nearly on top of him and pulling him to her chest. His mind locked her warmth, willing his arms to come up around her, his legs falling limp. He strained harder against the arm restraints, which suddenly and inexplicably disappeared a split second before his arms formed a vice-like grip around her.

_Ginny..._

_It's okay Harry. You're going to be fine. I'm right here._

He turned his face and pressed his nose hard into her, pulling her tight to his body. He laid there next to Ginny for an indeterminable amount of time before he felt her stir, letting her arms around his head relax.

"Harry? Are you in control?"

He thought about that for a moment and wondered if she'd lay there forever with him if he said no, but he knew he couldn't lie to her. Instead of taking the effort to speak, he let his arms fall to his sides and laid his head back against the pillow. For the first time, he realized that he had a blindfold on and even though his eyes were open, all he could see was black. He felt the restraints on his ankles disappear as he heard another voice that he took a moment to identify as Madam Pomfrey's.

"Miss Weasley, I do believe that will be enough."

"No..." Harry scratched, only halfway audibly as he again reached up with his arms and wrapped around Ginny, refusing to let her go. He felt her hand run through his hair as she leaned down to whisper in his ear.

"It's all right Harry. I'll be right here. Just let me go and let Madam Pomfrey take care of you." He could feel her breath against his ear, which was more comforting than anything she could ever say.

"No..."

"Please, you need to. I promise I won't leave you."

Harry shook his head, but his hand felt its way down her arm and found her hand, gripping it tightly while his other arm fell to his side.

"Okay," Ginny said, understanding completely. She slowly crawled off the bed, holding his hand the entire way even as he felt her feet touch the floor. Her other hand came up to cup his between her two as he heard Madam Pomfrey begin to incant in a low voice.

_Harry?_

_Ginny!_

_Do you remember what happened before we blacked out?_

_We? You blacked out too?_ The pain inside his head had dulled down to a low throb, and it didn't hurt to talk to Ginny, though if he tried anything else he was sure it would return.

_I didn't hit my head on anything on the way down though._

_So you're all right?_

She felt more than a little giddy in response to him waking up, though he didn't feel much like laughing or smiling. _Yes, I'm all right,_ Ginny sighed._ You're the one that gave us quite a scare._

_Us?_

_Ron and Hermione have been here constantly since last night and a few others have been in and out. I think they took what you said to heart._

Memories came rushing back all at once, causing Harry to let out a long groan and squirm uncomfortably. His hand almost got away from Ginny's, but she tightened her grip and wouldn't let him go.

_I'm so sorry Harry. I...I don't know what to say._

He was far from answering her. The beginnings of tears were forming in his eyes and even shutting them couldn't stop the flow. He was grateful for the blindfold which kept his eyes relatively dry, but he couldn't stop the sniff that gave him away.

_I don't want to talk about it._

They were silent for a long few minutes, Ginny too afraid of saying anything to upset him more, Harry just wishing he could have it all back. He hadn't wanted to scream all that at Ginny, let alone the whole common room. She would have found out his feelings eventually, but that wasn't the way he wanted to tell her. He really didn't want to share something that personal at all, but he knew he would have been forced to eventually.

_Harry?_

He thought for a long moment about playing unconscious, but again, that wouldn't work on her. _What?_

_Do you want to see who's here?_

_Can you take off the blindfold?_

_No...but you don't need your eyes. You can use mine._

_Yours?_ Surely she couldn't be suggesting doing the very thing that had been one of the causes of such a rift between them in the first place. Harry considered it in silence, wondering what might make even think of such a thing. Perhaps it was her way of telling him everything was okay between them.

_We know it's possible...you just have to think about it._

_I don't think I need to add retching to my list of problems right now._ His voice came off with more acid than he had intended due to his attempts to stop his tears, but Ginny understood.

_You don't have to if you don't want to, but I know I'd hate not to be able to see what's going on._

That was true, at least. He did hate having no idea where he was or what was happening, even if he could just ask Ginny. It wasn't like seeing it for himself. After setting his mind, he laid his head back and tried to relax as much as possible. He tried to remember the feeling of being inside Ginny, like having a second set of everything to sense through. At first, he just caught blurry flashes, not even in color, but as the minutes passed, he got better at it. He held a vision for a few seconds, then ten, and finally, her vision burst into full color in his mind even though he still knew he had a blindfold on.

_You're seeing, aren't you?_

_Yeah._

_I can feel you there. That place inside me, it's more full now. It's...nice._

Harry listened to her, but he was too busy taking in the scene to respond. Ginny was standing beside his bed, looking down at him. He looked terrible and realized why Ginny had suggested that he see through her eyes - he wasn't wearing a blindfold, but an entire head wrap. There was a significant crimson red patch on the top, leading him to believe it wasn't just for show. Luckily, whoever had put it on had colored it black so it wasn't as noticeable and he could almost pretend that it was just his hair gotten way too out of control and was covering most of his face down to just above his mouth.

For his benefit, Ginny looked around and Harry saw Ron and Hermione sitting in chairs, looking like they hadn't slept in a while and leaning against each other for comfort. Hermione looked particularly bad, given that she had already been walking the fence of exhaustion even before anything happened. Surprisingly, Katie Bell and the Weasley twins were also present, doing homework quietly in a corner and out of the way. Well, Katie was doing homework and the twins were talking quietly between themselves.

"Hermione, Ron?" Harry heard Ginny call. The bushy-haired which looked up and Harry almost wanted to cry all over again. She looked disastrous and he knew it was his fault. Both her and Ron looked frightened, but that was only natural after the way he'd awakened.

_Harry, don't feel guilty. They're just worried about you._

He felt her beckon with her eyes, which was followed by Hermione standing and walking over to where Ginny was standing and Ron taking up the other side of the bed.

"He's awake and fine. Just a little scared," Ginny said quietly.

Ron nodded without questioning how Ginny might know something like that - he was content to stand by Harry's bedside and stare down at him, looking lost in his own thoughts. Hermione's eyes searched Ginny for a moment, but she nodded in understanding and looked down at Harry. She seemed unsure of herself until Harry reached up with his other hand and held it out to her, his implication clear. She hesitantly grasped ahold of it, her grip tightening when he didn't pull away. Her hands were different than Ginny's, bigger, more solid, but not any less comforting. He watched as she held it and walked around the head of the bed to make it easier, standing above his left shoulder and leaning slightly over him. Harry noticed Madam Pomfrey throw a glance at Ron and Hermione, but the matron didn't say object. Suddenly, everyone's behavior made a lot more sense.

_I almost died, didn't I?_

Ginny didn't respond, but a squeeze of the hand and a rush of emotional anguish told him all he needed to know. He found he didn't want to know the details, but the knowledge enough was to throw him for a loop. Suddenly, having more people crowd around him didn't sound like such a bad idea.

After a minute of silence and getting accustomed to his limited range of movement and the constant pain that flowed through the major parts of his body, Harry drew an itchy breath.

"What happened?"

Both Ron and Hermione nearly jumped out of their skins, and he heard a small gasp from somewhere in the room, which he assumed was Katie. They obviously hadn't been expecting him to speak so soon.

"You took quite a blow to the head, Mr. Potter. How are you feeling?"

Harry almost smiled at the question even though there was nothing humorous about it. "Bad." His voice didn't say otherwise either; it was as dry and cracked as this throat felt. A few moments passed before he felt a cool vial slipped into his hand by Madam Pomfrey's distinctive hands.

"Drink that, it will help."

Harry didn't argue, and with some help from Ginny, he was able to raise his head up far enough to down the vial in one go. It felt cool and wet going down his throat, and unlike the water, the feeling didn't pass within a few seconds. It lessened as time passed, but for now it felt like heaven.

_Ginny? Do I want to know what happened?_

For a while, she didn't respond. Harry felt an enormous surge of hatred that was uncharacteristic even for a hot-tempered and angry Ginny - it was ten times what she'd been feeling while fighting with him. _I don't know. I don't even know all of it. You'll have to ask Fred and George, or Hermione._ Her voice was curt and it was clear she was barely holding back a great deal of fury.

_I... I'm sorry for yelling at you. I didn't mean it and I don't want you to be angry with me. I -_

_Harry! _She hushed him with a quick, urgent tone. _You were right, about everything. But you need to rest, we can talk about it later._

_I feel fine! _Harry insisted, and then moaned softly as another wave of pain washed through him. He could feel Ginny trying to keep a straight face even though her anger was beginning to melt and he felt a smallest of giggles inside of her, regardless of her concern for him. He gave her the mental equivalent of a 'hmpf' before speaking.

"What time is it?"

No one seemed to know as there was quite a bit of rustling and moving around after his question. Finally, Hermione answered. "Quarter before six on Friday afternoon."

"So I'll be all right for the match tomorrow morning?"

Dead silence greeted his question, and for a moment, Harry got a cold feeling in his stomach. Fred and George were the first to lose their control and begin sniggering, which set off a chain reaction that had everyone in the room besides Madam Pomfrey bursting with tension-breaking laughter. Harry hadn't meant it to be a joke, but at least if they could laugh about it, it couldn't be _too_ bad.

"Really, Mr. Potter!" Madam Pomfrey's voice cut through the racket. "Perhaps you don't quite understand the gravity of the situation. Not only did you suffer a cracked skull, but you are also still recovering from a severe case of magical exhaustion and numerous small injuries. You will be lucky if you are able to participate in the NEXT Quidditch match, let alone THIS one."

Again the room descended into silence, and there would be no laughs at the end of this one. Harry felt dizzy just imagining what had happened to him, and felt grateful that he'd been out for most of it. He knew that magical exhaustion was one of the most dangerous things that could happen to a magical person or being, and a cracked skull wasn't good no matter what the situation. Instead of trying to think about it and come to terms with it, he turned to humor to help him get his mind off it.

"Wood is going to kill me."

Everyone in the room chuckled, though with considerably less enthusiasm than before. Harry supposed that was only natural, but he didn't want anyone moping around on his account and not enjoying themselves.

"You are doing much better than expected," Madam Pomfrey conceded, but then added, "I didn't believe that you would awaken for a few more days at least, if at all. You should consider yourself lucky."

The seriousness of the situation impressed upon them all, Harry attempted no more humor and answered many questions about how he was feeling. During this time he relaxed and let Ginny's vision slip away, and Katie headed off to bring them all up some food since it appeared that none of them were leaving any time soon. Madam Pomfrey eventually left to go prepare some potions for Harry to take with his meal as well. Someone (he thought it was Hermione) worked behind him to get him propped up on the pillows, to which he was eternally grateful. Even if he couldn't see with his own eyes, he could still pretend that he wasn't as much of an invalid as he was.

Eventually, Harry heard the door to the hospital wing swing open quietly, and Ginny tensed as if someone had just pointed a wand at her. _Dumbledore,_ she said, and Harry understood. He heard a pair of heavy footsteps cross the room and fade out as Madam Pomfrey entered her office, and then a much lighter set padded over to his bedside just before Dumbledore's voice filled his ears.

"Hello, Harry. Madam Pomfrey tells me you are making an excellent recovery."

Having most of his head wrapped in a bandage wasn't his idea of an excellent recovery, but he wasn't about to argue with the Headmaster. There was obviously a reason for the old man's visit, so Harry said nothing and waited.

"Miss Granger and Messrs. Weasley, would you mind terribly if I asked you to step out for a moment? I have some things I wish to discuss with both Harry and Miss Weasley."

Everyone in the room exchanged confused glances, but no one was about to refuse a request from Dumbledore. Hermione, Ron, and the twins slowly left the room, and Harry could imagine each throwing one last worried glance before closing the door behind him. Maybe it wasn't so much imagination as after effects from being inside Ginny's head and using her vision.

"First of all, may I ask to hear your versions of what happened last night?"

Ginny took a breath to respond, but Harry cut her off. _Ginny, no. You can't lie to him._

_Why not?_

_Because he'll find out anyway. He probably already knows the truth._

Irritation found its way into their feelings once again, but it was directed entirely at Dumbledore. Ginny knew Harry was right - there was nothing stopping the Headmaster from reading the truth right out of the twins' minds, or even one of the other Gryffindors'. So instead, Ginny related a very brief version of what had happened, starting with the rift that had begun earlier in the week and ending with the fight and blacking out. She left out everything about the fight except that it had been started by her jealousy of someone else and that Harry was completely right about what he'd said. That part was accompanied by a small mental nod, which Harry accepted even though he didn't think an apology was necessary. She never said what exactly had caused the blackout for either of them, so Harry assumed she didn't know.

"So nothing unusual happened during your disagreement?"

_Should we tell him about the Parseltongue? _Ginny asked.

Harry sighed inwardly. _I reckon so. He's going to find out anyway._

Ginny stepped away from Harry for effect, throwing a glance down at his body that could be interpreted as fear. "There was one thing, Professor. Right before we passed out, Harry started screaming at me in Parseltongue-"

"I didn't mean to! It just sort of happened!" Harry finished, right on cue even though his head throbbed with the effort. He was even telling the truth, from a certain point of view. He hadn't any idea what possessed him to yell at her like that, but in retrospect he was glad that Ginny was the only one who could understand the worst of his rant.

"That's very interesting," Dumbledore mused, his voice trailing off introspectively. Ginny tentatively slid back toward Harry, wanting to maintain contact but also wanting to keep the illusion that she'd been scared of Harry yelling at her in such a way. It wasn't so hard - she'd been scared of him, though it wasn't the shocked sort of fear that she should have felt. It had been more of a raw fear of the venom in his voice and eyes as well as terrible pain in her chest as her brain had processed the words.

"And everything is cleared between the two of you now, I imagine?"

Ginny didn't answer, but instead, she rested a hand on Harry's shoulder and gave him a slight nudge.

"Yes, Professor. We've worked it out and it won't happen again."

Dumbledore was quiet for a moment, as if trying to solve a puzzle, and then his tone became one of resignation. "I'm sure it was a very personal experience for both of you. I have never heard of a human speaking in Parseltongue to something that could not understand it, let alone raise its voice. Be sure that it is really behind you both before you move on."

"Really Professor, it's fine. I was scared, but I know Harry wouldn't hurt me."

"In that case, there is something else I wish to discuss with you. Given the circumstances, I'm not sure either of you know exactly what happened after Mister Weasley stunned you." At this, Harry's mental eye turned very sharply at Ginny, who quailed under his razor-edged attention. He didn't say anything because they needed to concentrate on Dumbledore, but both knew there would be a very interesting conversation once they were alone. Unfortunately for Harry, there were any of four Weasleys Dumbledore could have been talking about.

"Although I have yet to discern why this particular event occurred, the fact remains that two reliable sources have related to me what can only be described as a magical overload. Perhaps you have heard of this, Miss Weasley?"

Harry felt Ginny shake her head in true confusion.

"Ah. When a witch or wizard is put into a life-threatening situation, he or she may be able to tap into vast reserves of magical power that are commonly referred to as a being's magical core. In a normal life-span, the average witch or wizard will never touch this reservoir of magic, as it only occurs when a wizard is in a life or death situation such as after receiving a life-threatening injury, in which case the magic is used to heal the damage and sustain the body until it is able to function without aid. It can also happen when the wizard is in a life or death struggle and he or she becomes desperate to the point of recklessness." Dumbledore paused to allow this to sink in, and then continued.

"However, this is a very dangerous thing to do, as if a wizard's magical reserves are exhausted, he or she will cease to exist. A magical core is at the center of what it means to be magical - many believe it is akin to a soul. Without the soul, the body will continue to function, though it will be an empty shell without an owner, a ghost of what it once was. That, Harry, is nearly what happened to you. When Mister Weasley's stunner made contact, you experienced a magical overload that drained your magical reserves and could have very easily destroyed your soul."

Harry felt Ginny gasp softly and clamp a hand over her mouth as tears sprang to her eyes. To Harry, it was nothing more than another close call with death, but to her it was apparently something much more. He felt her mind spinning at a trillion thoughts per second and had to let her emotions flow through him fluidly without trying to process them. Finally, he heard her sniff and squeeze his hand, willing herself not to break down as Dumbledore continued.

"That you survived is nothing short of astounding, but there are certain side effects you will have to consider. First, due to the extreme nature of this event, you will have to be exceedingly careful while using any form of magic, or even simply holding a wand. I cannot predict what kind of effect this might have on your magical talents, if any. Also, the nature of your particular overload has made it a very personal experience for those around you at the time. You will probably wish to speak with Miss Spinnet and Miss Johnson about this, as well as any others who happen to remember the incident. There is a curious case of memory loss in the Gryffindor students who were in the common room at the time, but I'm sure they are not the only two who remember."

Even though it seemed that Dumbledore was finished for the moment, Harry's mind reeled at the implications of what had been said. "What do you mean?" he finally blurted out.

Dumbledore took a moment to consider his words, and then spoke softly. "You will have to talk to the persons involved, I'm afraid. I cannot answer that question other than to say they have been touched by the very essence of what it means to be Harry Potter. How each individual reacts to that is not something that can be predicted."

Neither Harry nor Ginny knew quite how to respond to that. Their emotions were a whirlwind of confusion, wonder, dread, and plain exhaustion. Harry knew he'd just awakened, but right now all he wanted was to go back to sleep and forget Dumbledore had ever arrived. Ginny squeezed his shoulder in support once again, and he touched her mentally in thanks. They exchanged a shy mental smile before Dumbledore's voice cut into their thoughts again.

"There is one last thing, and then I will leave you in peace. Madam Pomfrey has informed me that there is a certain possessiveness when between the two of you, as she has observed when either of you have been in her care." Ginny's temper flared again at such a comment, but Harry quickly smothered her anger with reassurance of his own. The last thing they needed at the moment was Ginny feeling defensive. "She has indicated that it is reaching an almost unhealthy level, as she could not separate the two of you despite multiple attempts and the help of several other students. The formation of such feelings is not unheard of after two people, especially young children, live through a terrifying ordeal together. Have you noticed any strange or unexplainable feelings that one of you can't explain but feel very passionately about?"

It was all Ginny could do to keep a level face. Harry had a much easier time given that most of his expression was hidden from view by the head wrap, but they both were still roaring with laughter on the inside. Harry even felt Ginny retreat into her mind and away from the physical world for a few moments to gain control of herself before answering the question.

"Not that I've noticed," she replied in a remarkably uninterested voice.

_Bit late, isn't he? _Harry quipped, breaking a long mental silence. They'd been so shocked by the news of Harry's brush with death and the following consequences that they'd been hanging on the Headmaster's every word. "I haven't either, Professor. Is something wrong?"

Dumbledore gave them another of his calculating looks, but Harry felt no attempt at Legilimency on either of their minds. For that, at least, he could be thankful.

"This is not the first time I have observed such a reaction. After Miss Weasley's ordeal on Halloween night, you exhibited a behavior that is much the same, and I believe that the following day you took your feelings out on Mr. Malfoy. I do not want this to become a persistent problem."

_So that's what he's getting at,_ Ginny said. _So what if I want to protect you? There's nothing wrong with that!_ Harry might have agreed with her, except that something Hermione had said about their connection popped into his mind. Perhaps there was a lot more truth in those words than either of them had realized.

"It won't, Professor."

_Ginny, you are being a little over the top._

_How can you say that! You almost DIED! Weren't you LISTENING TO HIM?_

Harry winced from her rather forceful disbelief. _We'll talk about it later._

Ginny fumed while Harry said goodbye to Dumbledore. It seemed that was all the Headmaster had wanted to speak about, though if there was anything else Harry knew he would hear about it in his next detention session. Hopefully it wouldn't be as bad as his last.

"And what exactly was that supposed to mean?!" Ginny exclaimed after Dumbledore was gone. "You did the exact same thing when I was hurt!"

Harry sighed slowly and shook his head, though it was more a slow movement from side to side than anything else. "Ginny, he might be right. Have you ever felt like this toward anyone else before?"

"Of course not Harry, I've never known anyone to DIE on me!"

Harry bit his tongue and Ginny knew it, but he wasn't going to let her win. "All I'm saying is that this might be a little of our connection getting in the way."

"Getting in the way?" Ginny asked, more confused than angry. "That's not what you really think."

"Did you really mean what you said about Hermione?"

Ginny felt shocked. "You know I didn't!"

"Then why did you say it? Why did you get so angry at her for trying to be my friend?"

"Because she was being an -" Ginny stopped abruptly, red-hot shame washing over her face, so much that Harry could feel it in his own even though he couldn't see it. Ginny stared down at the floor with silence between them for a good couple minutes until Ron, Hermione, and the twins poked their heads in the door, asking if they could come back in. Harry saw Madam Pomfrey give them a disapproving look, but the nurse didn't move to stop them from coming into the room. As far as Harry could surmise, Dumbledore wanted him around as many friends as possible right now, though he hadn't a clue why.

Ginny suddenly looked up at Hermione, threw her arms around the older witch, and burst out, "I'm so sorry!" The embrace was held for only a split-second longer before the redhead ran out of the hospital wing in a hurry. Everyone (besides Harry) stared after her in shock.

"I think you've got the right of it Harry," Ron finally said, his voice much closer than Harry expected.

"I do?"

"Yeah. All girls are nutters." Harry could imagine the smile on his best friend's face before Hermione smacked him on the shoulder and caused him to yelp. He didn't need his vision to see what was happening - it was so blessedly normal and predictable.

"Wait a minute - when did you say that Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Er, never? I don't know what Ron's talking about," Harry replied rather unconvincingly. Hermione hmpfed, but she didn't pursue the subject. He wondered vaguely if she'd try and press it out of either him or Ron when she could get either of them alone.

Another few minutes was spent with the five of them making casual conversation, or mostly the twins telling some outrageous wizarding jokes that had to be a thousand years old. They were all new to Muggle-borns like Harry and Hermione, but Ron groaned every time a punch-line was delivered. Harry had to admit, most of them were pretty bad, but at least they kept silence at bay. Eventually, Harry heard the door open again, and quite a few pairs of feet came into the room, including Ginny's.

"Ah, dinner!" one of the twins exclaimed, which told Harry it was at least Katie as well. Judging by what Dumbledore had said and who had come back, Harry took a wild stab in the dark.

"Angelina and Alicia?"

"Yup," "Here," Both of them responded almost instantly, and he felt two people approach his bedside so fast it was a little odd.

"Just wondered who else was here," Harry said lamely. He heard Fred and George whispering about something, during which time everyone else was eerily silent.

_Ginny?_

_Hmm?_ She sounded (and felt) a little down and depressed, but he knew she'd pull out of it quickly. For whatever reason, just being closer to him was helping her.

_Can I...er...use your eyes?_

She giggled softly both mentally and physically. Harry almost smiled at her quick mood swing - sometimes having unstable emotions wasn't always bad.

_Of course. You don't have to ask._

This time, Harry felt something beckoning him across their connection, as if he was being called toward hr by some unknown voice. He supposed it was always easier the second time, but her vision floated into his eyes so easily it was kind of scary. He had completely gained use of her vision just before Fred and George cast another Silencing Charm on the room. The three Gryffindor Chasers were putting some food onto plates while Ginny was standing on Harry's left side to give him a full view of everything going on. It was still a little creepy to be looking at himself, but given their past nauseating experiences with such visions, Harry would take this any time of the day.

"Okay, we're secure," Fred said. Harry knew which twin it was without a doubt - one of the many advantages of having Ginny's eyes. George nodded in agreement before the twins both looked over at Harry. "All right there Harry?"

Harry started to respond, but then had to cover an urge to throw up at watching himself talk before actually getting a response out. "Just a little tired."

"Good, because we have some business to take care of. First off, no one outside of this room besides Hermione and Ronniekins knows exactly what happened." Fred began.

Harry's mind clouded over in confusion, though he wondered if the memory loss that Dumbledore mentioned had anything to do it with it. "How? There were loads of people in the common room." _Ginny, can you look away from my head? It's a little weird watching myself talk._

_Sure,_ she giggled. _Sorry._

"Er...we had to cast a few Memory Charms, but it worked out all right." Fred replied furtively, followed by George's, "Don't you worry about it."

Harry gulped, but said nothing. He hoped the twins didn't get in trouble and tried not to think where they'd learned to do a Memory Charm properly. _That explains a lot,_ Ginny said dryly.

"Second, it's bloody scary when you scream in Parseltongue," Fred shivered. "I didn't even know it was possible for a snake to scream, but I never want to hear it again."

Harry squirmed uncomfortably, not sure how to respond to that one. He hadn't considered how many people might have heard that as well. Everyone knew he was a Parseltongue, but no one knew about Ginny. Luckily, even the twins didn't seem to make anything of it.

"And third, uh," Fred tailed off, obviously uncomfortable. "We just want you to, er, know we're here if-"

"What Fred is trying to say is if you need us, all you have to do is ask," Katie cut in with a smile. "We're here for you."

A vague discomfort ran through Harry's body, mostly because he didn't know what to say, and partly because he didn't like so much attention. He didn't want people to feel like they had to always hang around and take care of him just because he was different in some way. Hermione was different because, well, she did it because that's the way she was. It just didn't feel right when other people did it.

"Er...thanks."

"That's our Harrykins, always so modest," George said as he grabbed a plate of food and began feasting, obviously unconcerned. Harry was about to relax when he saw Fred's eyes bounce between Ginny and his body on the bed. He knew he needed to bring up what Dumbledore had said, and now seemed like a very good time to head off Fred.

"So, er, Dumbledore said that you guys might have felt something when I, uh, passed out." He also remembered that he'd been stunned, but he didn't have the will to feel angry at Ginny for not telling him. He was tired of their constant mood swings.

Harry watched as uncomfortable glances were shared around the room, and even one confused one from Ron. What did surprise him was Hermione seemed to know exactly what he was talking about and was looking at the twins and the chasers with equal hesitation. Finally, Alicia spared them and broke the ice.

"We...we were going to talk to you about that, but I think it's better done alone. Wood is having practice tonight, so we don't have time."

Harry saw nods around the room and sighed. He'd really hoped he could get it over with, but he supposed it was better to do it right. If what Dumbledore had said was true, it wasn't something that happened, well, ever, and it would take more than a brief conversation to cover it. He nodded his head slightly and retreated into his thoughts until Fred's voice brought him back to reality.

"So Harry, what's up with you and Ginny?" He tried to sound casual, as if randomly changing the subject, but there was nothing innocent about the question. Harry cast around frantically for an answer given the way he'd woken up, but nothing came to mind. Fortunately, an indignant Ginny spoke on his behalf.

"Fred, I told you, he just needs a feminine touch. Even you liked Mum taking care of you when you were sick."

George raised an eyebrow through another mouthful of food. "I'm pretty sure Mum never did _that_ when we were kids."

Ginny flushed a Weasley red with embarrassment that flooding Harry's feelings. He would have laughed if she wasn't sticking up for him, though luckily the twins seemed to be on their own on this one.

"Leave her alone you two. There's nothing wrong with a little crush, especially if it's on Harry Potter," Angelina said mysteriously. Harry felt an explosion of feelings at the chaser's seemingly innocuous comment - embarrassment from both himself and Ginny, and even a little territorial protectiveness mixed in from Ginny's side.

"I do not have a crush on Harry, thank you very much. That was a long time ago."

All five of the other occupants of the room took one look at Ginny and burst out laughing. Harry felt Ginny's face heat up as she turned to stare at the wall behind his head, away from everyone else. He tried not to think about Ginny's feelings toward him because deep down, he wasn't sure he wanted to know the truth. Right now, he was happy believing Ginny when she said she didn't think about him that way anymore. It made things so much easier.

_Don't worry about them Ginny. They're going to say that because we're Soulmates._

She didn't respond, so Harry dropped it and listened to the small talk between the twins and the chasers. Ginny continued to stare at an uninteresting wall in her shame, so Harry slid out of her head once again, feeling quite natural. For the first time, he thought he might be able to get used to sharing senses, as long as it was only occasional.

"All right there Harry?" Ron asked after picking up some food on the way over to his bedside. Harry wondered briefly why Madam Pomfrey allowed such a party inside her hospital, but Ginny's voice answered him almost immediately.

_I think Dumbledore had something to do with it. Before you woke up, they talked for a bit and then Madam Pomfrey stopped trying to shoo us out._

"Better," Harry answered Ron absently, though after pondering Dumbledore's motive for allowing everyone to stay, the whole reason he'd been in such a terrible mood in the first place came flooding back to him. Somehow, lying in a hospital bed after a near death experience and surrounded by friends, he couldn't work up the energy to be angry about it anymore. It was just a tired sort of feeling, one where he knew he was angry but not really willing to think or do anything about it.

The next twenty minutes or so was a comfortable time of relaxation among friends, though the conversations were roughly divided on age. Harry didn't get to talk to the twins or the older girls much, but he wasn't sure what he would have had to say anyway. Instead, he spent his time talking with Ron, Ginny, and Hermione and pretending that they were sitting in the common room after another day of classes. Hermione insisted on filling him in on the days classes, which was an excellent subject for avoiding anything uncomfortable.

Eventually, the twins and the chasers picked up the plates and silverware and bid their farewells, promising to be by to talk to him about things the next day. Madam Pomfrey had been in and out checking on him and giving him a few potions to drink, but mostly she just seemed to be observing and looking for something. Hermione had spent five minutes expounding upon the dangers of magical exhaustion to a wizard and how even without the head injury, Harry had been at risk for permanent harm. Ginny had quietly but firmly changed the subject after that.

"So you and Ron, eh? Getting pretty friendly?" Harry teased as soon as the door shut behind the twins. As much as he wanted to take the mickey out of Ron, he wasn't about to let Fred and George catch wind of it. In his desire to see their reactions, Harry almost didn't notice when he let Ginny's vision flood back into his mind. Surprisingly, both Ron and Hermione turned a deep pink and didn't seem to have a reply. Apparently Harry had hit closer to the mark than he'd thought.

"It's nothing _indecent_, Harry," Hermione finally replied. "Is there something wrong with us getting on better?"

"Oh, not at all," Harry grinned. "Just curious."

_You are evil._

_Everyone does it to us._

_There's that._

"I'm not the one with my best mate's sister crawling all over me while I'm asleep," Ron retorted, a bit late. It apparently had taken him a bit to find an appropriate response.

"Um, Ron, about that," Harry began, and then noticed two very sharp glares from the girls in the room.

_You're not going to tell him!  
_

_Why not?_

_Because! He's RON!_

_He knows something is up._

_I don't care! This is supposed to be our little secret, remember? Hermione is just too nosy for her own good - that doesn't change anything!_

_All right, all right._

"Harry?" Ron asked, confused. He was the only one in the room who didn't quite grasp what was happening.

"Sorry, felt a little dizzy. Head injury, you know." Harry did his best to force a smile. "But you might want to get a better handle on Ginny. I can't stop her when I'm unconscious."

Ron groaned as Harry felt Ginny relax a bit, even though she still felt a little peeved. _Nice save._

"So, uh, Hermione? Are you okay?"

Hermione laughed softly and nodded, even though he shouldn't have been able to see her. "Yes, I'm better. Thank you for asking."

"Good, because you and Ginny were driving me bonkers." An awkward silence followed and Harry wondered if he'd spoken too soon. "Oh...uh..."

"We're all right," both Ginny and Hermione said in unison, and then looked at each other uncomfortably. It was really odd seeing the conversation from Ginny's eyes, but he was starting to get used to the feeling of being outside his own body. Given the fact that they already shared feelings anyway, that aspect of it was already comfortable.

"And besides Ron, you _are_ getting a little friendly with my sister," Harry teased. Ginny laughed, but she was the only one. Hermione just stared at Harry with a dumbstruck sort of smile, and Ron looked entirely lost.

"Huh?"

Somehow, Ginny's eyes turned to Hermione even though Harry was speaking. "He wasn't there?"

It took her a moment to come back from whatever dream world she was in, but eventually she shook her head. "No, he was in the loo. I came up as soon as Dean came to get me and left a note for him."

"Dean...?" Ginny questioned.

"That's how I knew you were fighting. Dean game down looking for Ron and I because he thought we could stop you from destroying the common room or some nonsense." Hermione smiled mischievously at the thought while Ron sniggered. Harry looked at them confusedly.

"What's so funny?"

Hermione shook her head. "It's nothing, really."

Ron shook his head as his mirth increased. "It's nothing all right. Harry only gave the common room a bit of a redecoration."

"Only?" Harry asked.

"You'll just have to see it for yourself, Harry," Ginny said, though there was a note of amusement in her voice is well. Harry growled in frustration and gave Ginny a mental cold shoulder, but it didn't last long. Soon he was trying to dig out information from each of the three of them, who seemed to take pleasure in keeping him in the dark. Finally he (painfully) threw his hands up in the air and gave up.

"Fine then, I guess you don't want to know what Dumbledore had me do for detention."

That hushed the laughter and suddenly all three of them were interested. Harry almost decided to play hard to get, but he wanted to tell someone as much as they wanted to hear it. He could feel Ginny nearly bursting to know, given that he'd refused to tell her just the night before.

"We talked."

Of course, that wasn't to mean that he couldn't have a little fun in telling them.

"You...talked?" Ron asked disbelievingly.

"Something about how I would learn more this way and that cleaning the castle with Filch wouldn't teach me anything."

_He used Legilimency on you, didn't he?_

_Actually, no. He didn't even try once. _Now that Harry thought about it, it was a little odd that Dumbledore wouldn't try to get something out of him without actually asking. He'd certainly done it to Ginny before without reservations.

"So...?" Hermione prompted.

"So what?"

She made a frustrated noise that caused Harry to chuckle. "What did you talk about?!"

"My mum and dad."

Harry began to painfully retell the story of betrayal that led to his parents' deaths, though he was still too drained to feel the sort of fury that he had in Dumbledore's office. Even now, it was just becoming another part of his past that wasn't worth thinking about - it was normal to have bad things happen to him. He could feel Ginny trying to suppress feelings of guilt, but he reached out to her and emotionally reassured her anyway. He could feel her reluctance to accept his gesture, but she didn't refuse it outright.

"Dumbledore told you all that?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded, but even as he did, he wondered exactly why Dumbledore had been so upfront with him. It just didn't seem right for the old Headmaster to be completely upfront with anyone about anything.

"Well, I suppose it doesn't change anything. It's not like you're going to go after him, are you Harry?" Hermione hinted. When Harry didn't respond, she gave him a gentle shove in the side. "Are you Harry?"

"No, I won't go after him," Harry said, though he wasn't completely sure he believed himself. He knew Hermione wouldn't rest until she got some sort of agreement out of him, so he figured he'd save all of them the hassle. Luckily, before anyone could say anything else, Madam Pomfrey came bustling in with yet another potion that Harry hoped was a Sleeping Drought.

"All right, Mr. Potter needs his rest. Dumbledore may allow you to stay, but that doesn't mean you can disturb my patients." Madam Pomfrey gave Ron, Hermione, and Ginny a significant look. She gave Harry the potion which he drank with gratitude, and not five minutes later he was fast asleep and blissfully unaware of the world around him.

------

The difference a good night's rest could make on the body was astounding. Harry had a perfectly dreamless night that felt like it passed in an instant, and yet when he woke all of the exhaustion and most of the pain had left his body. His eyes fluttered a couple times, but he realized he still had the head wrapping on and it was pointless. Instead, he lay as still as he could and strained his ears to figure out who was in the room. A familiar mental check told him Ginny was asleep somewhere off to his right, probably sitting straight up in her chair with her closed eyes locked straight on him. He thought he heard someone else breathing in the room as well, but he or she was quiet enough that he wasn't sure.

"Hello?" Harry called, softly enough not to wake Ginny and unsure if it was a good idea to break the silence. He was correct about the presence of another occupant in the room - he heard the squeak of a chair and felt someone come stand next to him before he heard Hermione's voice.

"Good morning Harry."

"Morning Hermione," Harry scratched, and then attempted to clear his throat. He felt Hermione push something cold into his hands and downed the glass of water in one go. "Thanks."

A long two minutes of silence passed, but every time Harry thought of something to say or ask about, the words died before they'd even had the chance to reach his throat. It wasn't much of a stretch for him to realize Hermione was being quiet because something was bothering her, but he wasn't sure he wanted to ask about it. Finally, the awkwardness got the better of him and he reached out to feel for her hand, first getting a fist full of robes before he found his target. Holding hands wasn't something Harry did a lot, but even he could tell when Hermione relaxed a bit. Maybe there was something to the whole physical contact thing.

"Hermione?" He felt a twich in her hand that told him that she'd heard him. "You okay?"

There was a second before anyone said anything, and then Hermione replied in a small voice, "Funny you should be asking me that."

Harry doublechecked to see that Ginny was actually asleep, and then turned his attention back to Hermione. He figured he'd tackle the big issue first and work his way down from there. "You...you heard what Ginny and I were arguing about?"

He heard a sniff from his side and he got his answer. Her grip on his hand loosened and tried to pull away, but he tightened his fingers and held onto her as best he could. Even though he hadn't a clue how to handle this situation, he had the courage to plunge into it anyway.

"I don't think you're overpossessive," he began, but faltered as he realized he had nowhere to go. Hermione sniffed again, but to her credit, she kept her composure in check, which gave Harry at least a small amount of confidence. He felt the pressure next to him as she sat down and sniffed again.

"I... But I am!"

Harry groaned inwardly, but he was careful not to show his displeasure on the outside, even if most of his face was covered by a wrapping. There wasn't much he could do now other than hope that she'd believe him. As he took a slow breath to speak, he steeled his resolve and forced words out that should have been said long ago.

"Um...Hermione? I...I meant what I said to Ginny. I like knowing that you'll be there for me." A horrible chill ran down Harry's spine and his jaw suddenly stopped working, but he'd said it. It was a good thing Hermione was listening, because he didn't think he could find the strength to say it again.

"Really?" She asked slowly.

Harry gulped. "Really."

Suddenly, Hermione gave up on the hand holding and collapsed on top of him in a giant embrace, her sobs clearly audible even muffled by Harry's hospital gown. Her arms flew around his neck at once and pulled him close, giving Harry no choice but to awkwardly return her embrace.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Harry! I never knew I annoyed you so much! I just wanted to make sure you were all right and and I just wanted you to like me and I don't want you to die and..." She trailed off into inaudible phrases that were more sobs than anything else, but Harry had no choice but to push through it. It was a very awkward situation for him, but he sensed that something very important was happening with Hermione and he didn't want to disturb her. It took a good few minutes for her to let out all of her tears, and another couple after that to slow the sniffing and eye-watering long enough to find her voice. When she did, it was between sniffles and a watery smile.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that to you Harry, I've just been under a lot of stress lately. I'm sorry if -"

"Hermione, shhh," Harry shushed in a way that was entirely drawn from his experiences with Ginny, who amazingly enough, had slept through the entire conversation without stirring. "It's all right. You don't have to explain anything."

She shifted a little and Harry felt her face rise up off his chest into a position he could only guess was staring at him. "Wha...huh?"

Harry licked his dry lips once again. "It's all right. I don't mind."

"Y...you don't?"

As best he could, Harry tried to move his head side to side. It was a halfway decent effort at best. "Ginny and I said some really mean things about you. I'm the one who should be apologizing."

Hermione was silent for a moment and slipped her arms from around his neck. "No...you don't need to apologize. I..." She hesitated and Harry heard the sound of her nails clicking against the side of the bed. "I...I do want to know something though."

Harry racked his brain to try and figure out what she was going to ask, but he couldn't think of anything at all. "What is it?"

"Did you mean it when...I mean...Did you mean it when you called me...did you mean the last thing you said to Ginny?"

As far as he knew, he hadn't spoken aloud to Ginny since the fight. Whisper, maybe, but not loud enough for anyone...oh. That. Harry was glad he had a huge black bandage wrapped around his face, because he knew he would have been a Weasley red if anyone could see his face. As it was, the bottoms of his cheeks were feeling very exposed.

"Yeah, I -"

"Harry?" Ginny stirred, and Harry nearly cursed at her for her timing, but when he felt Hermione get up and heard her hurried footsteps lead out the door, he knew it was too late. He wasn't sure what had caused such a hasty departure, but he was sure he'd heard something of a cross between a laugh and a loud sniff. He hoped she was all right, but there wasn't much he could do about it now.

"I'm sorry - I'll go after her if you want me to."

Harry shook his head. "No."

He felt Ginny step up to his bed and take his hand, prompting him to brush her mentally, questioning. She returned his brush the equivalent of a sad look.

"What's wrong Ginny?"

She shook her head silently and crawled into bed next to him, something Harry would have been very uncomfortable with if Ginny hadn't felt the way she did. He knew this was only about comforting her through emotional turmoil and not about some girlish desire she was feeling in the passing moment. Harry hesitantly reached up and patted her back, after which she snuggled into him and turned her face so her cheek laid on his chest.

"I was so scared, Harry. I...I felt you hit your head - that's what knocked me out. I thought you had died!" Ginny's voice rose sharply at the end, causing Harry to cringe. He'd been about to ask her why she didn't tell him Percy was the one to stun him, but the fear and pain that rolled off of her in waves hushed him. It was exceedingly difficult to be angry with her when she already felt so fragile and helpless.

"I woke up and...and the twins were already Obliviating people. I ran over to you, and you weren't moving, and the back of your head was covered in blood!" Harry saw a vision flash before his eyes and he froze with fear as well - for a brief moment, he could see exactly as Ginny had - his blood seeping out onto the stone behind him, his lifeless form sprawled out over the castle floor. The vision passed almost as quickly as it had come, but it remained burned into the backs of his eyelids.

"B-But that wasn't the worst part," Ginny sniffled, oddly calm again even with a tear-streaked face. "I tried to get you up, but you wouldn't move. I turned around to look for someone to help, and when I turned back, I saw it Harry! I saw the Grim!" She burst into tears again and rubbed her nose into Harry's hospital robes, her arms wrapping around him as tightly as they could without forcing him to move. Harry returned her embrace as best he could while his mind turned the word over and over in his head. _Grim..._ He knew he'd heard it before, or read it, but it took several frantic moments for him to remember.

"Ginny, I'm not going to die. It's been over a day."

She only squeezed him tighter and let out a loud sob. "But I was so scared! You didn't see it! It was huge and black and I know it was staring at me!"

Harry decided that talking to her wasn't going to help anymore, so he did his best to reassure her with small brushes of emotion and with his arms around her body. She seemed to respond to that, and though she didn't appear to change on the outside, a mental block inside of her started to melt and she began to let go of her fear. A few minutes ticked by and Harry could tell that Ginny didn't want to move an inch. Finally, Madam Pomfrey bustled in and spotted them.

"Miss Weasley! Get out of Mr. Potter's bed immediately! You were to inform me the moment he regained consciousness!"

Ginny was shocked into a sitting position, though as she slid off the bed Harry could feel her longing to be back in full contact with him. It had gone too far now for him to simply say he was uncomfortable and tell her to back off; in truth, his revulsion to contact had faded into only slight discomfort, and then only because he wasn't sure how to do it. It seemed silly not to know how to hug someone, but for Harry it was something that he'd never learned nor had reason to learn.

"Well, Mr. Potter, you are making a fine recovery. Normally in cases of magical exhaustion, it takes weeks for the patient to begin healing magically, but you seem to have suffered no ill-side effects. I've never seen anything like it before."

"So I'll be getting out today?"

Madam Pomfrey clucked impatiently. "We'll see if you're able to leave within the week. I assure you I'm no more excited to have you than you are to be here." He felt a vague tingling on the covered portion of his head and a confused sound from the nurse. He heard the same incantation and felt the same tingling again.

"Well, we'll need to be getting that head wrap off. Miss Weasley, would you prop Mister Potter up on some pillows?"

Harry was excited about getting his massive bandage off, but his feelings were dampened even before Ginny spoke.

"But I thought he wasn't supposed to have it off for at least two weeks?"

The sound of something being set on the table next to him filled the eerie stillness in the air before the medi-witch answered. "You should know Mr. Potter doesn't ever follow any set of rules put before him. He should not have been able to use his own magic in his recovery, and yet everything indicates magical healing is happening at an astounding rate. To be quite honest, I don't understand it myself."

Ginny was bursting with questions she wanted to ask, but both she and Harry knew that Madam Pomfrey had none of the answers. As she helped him up onto the pillows (though he didn't feel as though he needed help), they came to a silent agreement that their bond had something to do with his quick healing. Even for a wizard, Harry wondered if it was common to heal from a cracked skull in two days, but he wasn't going to ask questions either.

The wrap took nearly fifteen minutes to take off, mostly because Madam Pomfrey seemed to hesitate at every turn. It was pretty obvious that she was afraid of the wound still being open and letting out the whole can of worms all over again, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. Harry felt Ginny wince when she saw the back of his head, but he couldn't feel anything so he figured it couldn't be terrible.

"Okay, Mr. Potter, I'm going to remove the numbing charm, and I want you to tell me how it feels." Harry felt a warm sensation in the back of his head, and then his world exploded. His eyes were already shut against the light, but as soon as the pain returned, they squeezed tightly as a half-moan, half-squeal escaped his lips. The pain immediately vanished again as the charm was replaced, but the ghost of it lingered as he half-curled into a ball and prayed for it to vanish.

"Are you all right Miss Weasley?"

Harry didn't hear her respond, and his head was still throbbing too much to ask her mentally. He supposed that she'd felt the same thing he had, and if that was the case, she probably wasn't. After a moment, he relaxed slightly as he heard her voice.

"I'm fine, just got a little dizzy."

Madam Pomfrey made a disgruntled noise, but didn't push further. Harry had a moment of insight and nearly felt sorry for the medi-witch - there were so many things happening to him and Ginny this year and most of them didn't have any plausible explanation other than their soul bond.

"So what does this mean?" Ginny asked as she put her hand on Harry's side. With the pain in his head receding, Harry chanced a flutter of his eyes, which was rewarded by pain as well. After being in complete darkness for the greater part of two days, someone was going to have to turn down the lights before he could open them. He felt a very strange sensation, like a bunch of insects crawling around the back of his head, and then it vanished.

"It seems that the wound has healed on the outside first, and there is still some internal healing that must be done naturally." Again, Harry got the impression the older witch was confused, but he didn't ask. In fact, he really didn't want to talk about his injury at all. Ginny seemed to sense this and guided their topic of conversation to the Quidditch match that was taking place that morning. Apparently Wood had searched frantically for a Seeker and was forced to enlist Demelza Robbins, a second year that had volunteered when Wood had opened the spot to anyone who could fly a broom. Gryffindor's chasers were outstanding, but unless the twins were able to keep Cedric Diggory (the Hufflepuff seeker) looking over his shoulder the entire match, Hufflepuff would most likely win with an easy snitch capture.

Over the next hour, Madam Pomfrey kept Harry under constant observation even after they readjusted his eyes to the light. This was a rather large annoyance because he wanted to talk to Ginny about _exactly_ what had happened to cause him to fall unconscious, but he also knew it was a conversation best had alone.

He heard the sounds of a Quidditch match going on, and the longer it went, the more hopeful he got. There was one point where he thought it was over because everything went silent and he heard nothing for a few minutes, but slowly the noise had started up again. He tried to urge Ginny to go watch it, but she flat-out refused to leave him alone. He gave up after she pointed out that she would have played Seeker if she'd planned on being anywhere except beside him.

Just as Harry was beginning to fidget in anticipation for the result of the match, the hospital wing door swung quietly opened and drew three pairs of eyes like a magnet. Harry didn't even wait to see who it was before blurting "Did we win?"

Professor Lupin closed the door behind him and chuckled as he shook his head. "Just like James. After two days in the hospital wing and all you can think about is Quidditch."

Harry flushed pink, but deep down he felt proud of Lupin's assessment. "Er...sorry Professor." Just then, a huge cheer floated in through the window and Harry felt even more embarrassed. "I suppose the match isn't even over yet."

"It's quite all right," Lupin said, and then gestured toward a chair next to Ginny. "Mind if I sit?"

Both Harry and Ginny shook their heads in unison, so Lupin sat and pulled himself close enough to rest his elbows on Harry's bedside. "I hear you had a pretty close call."

Harry glanced at Ginny uncomfortably before responding. "I don't even know why it was so bad. I only got stunned."

"And cracked your head open on the way down," Ginny said bitterly, with an element of anger. "Don't let him fool you Professor."

Harry rolled his eyes, which incited a brief moment of pain and a wince. Lupin gave him a furtive look, but left it alone.

"Dumbledore told me about what happened, and I just wanted to make sure you both were okay," Lupin said, but it was clear from his eyes he meant mainly Harry. Ginny felt half-heartedly offended at this, but even she knew that Harry had gotten the far worse end of the deal.

"Professor, are you going to be here for a bit?" Ginny asked.

Lupin raised an eyebrow. "I had planned to be, why do you ask?"

"I...I'm going to go get something to eat." Harry felt her forcing down her desire to stick to him like a shadow. "You'll stay with him until I get back?"

Lupin smiled and nodded. "Of course."

Ginny took her time in leaving, making it very clear she was doing something she didn't particularly want to do. Harry understood that she was trying to give Lupin the physical privacy to talk to him, but he wondered if he even wanted to talk to Lupin alone. He hadn't a clue what the Professor wanted to talk about.

"You two certainly are close," Lupin said as Ginny shut the door behind her. Harry wasn't sure how to respond, so he nodded and kept his mouth shut. "Dumbledore tells me you're very protective of each other."

Harry wasn't so thick to think that Lupin didn't expect a response. He thought about it for a long moment before nodding again. "Apparently not enough. Did he tell you what happened last year too?"

"I've heard some rumors," Lupin replied mysteriously. "It's always nice to have someone to care about you like that." If Harry didn't know better, he would have said the older man sounded wistful.

"I suppose."

An awkward silence settled between student and professor, stretching on long enough that Harry was searching for something to say just to break the ice.

"Professor? What happens if someone sees a Grim?"

Lupin's eyes cut sharply to Harry's, as if trying to read something in them. Harry felt nothing entire his mind, but somehow he got the feeling that Lupin could see his thoughts all the same.

"Why would you ask that?"

Harry shrugged and tried to appear only somewhat interested. "I've just seen one twice, and almost died both times."

Lupin blinked, alarmed. "Almost died...twice?"

Harry chuckled dryly. "Yeah, it's a common occurrence now. The first time I almost got ran over by the Knight Bus, and then I saw one outside the window right before I got stunned."

Something Harry said caught the Professor's attention. "You saw a dog on the grounds?"

Harry nodded, and then froze. He hadn't actually seen the Grim two nights before, and had no idea if it was the same as the one he'd seen the night he ran away from the Dursleys, or even the one on the front of the Divination book. _Ginny! What did the Grim look like?_

_A huge black dog with really creepy eyes! _And then belatedly, _Why?_

"What did he look like?"

Harry couldn't resist feeling like he was being questioned. "Huge and black. I didn't see him for long."

"Could you see his eyes?"

Why would Lupin want to know that? "They were gray, and really creepy. I thought they were staring at me." Somehow, giving an account of what Ginny had seen didn't feel as awkward as it should have.

"That's very interesting," Lupin mused, looking a million miles away for a moment. "I wouldn't put much stock in it. If you really have seen it twice, and you're not dead, then it can't be too terrible." The professor chuckled, but it sounded terribly forced and Harry didn't join in.

"When can I take my next Dementor lesson?"

Lupin's smile died. "Harry, I really don't -"

"Professor, would you rather me not know how to defend against them?"

Something made Lupin squirm uncomfortably, which was very strange as he was usually very calm and collected. "I suppose you're going to find this out anyway, but one of the reasons I came to check on you were the dementors. They came onto the grounds and into the stadium during the match. I wanted to make sure you were all right."

Harry was too shocked by the news to feel any irritation at being treated like a baby. "Th-They came onto the pitch?"

Lupin nodded grimly. "Dumbledore was furious. A couple of the players nearly fell off their brooms."

Harry hadn't a clue what to think or say about that. If it had been him, he was sure he would have fallen off his broom and probably would have wound up in the hospital wing anyway. And if he'd been high enough up...

"All the more reason for me to learn to fight against them," Harry prodded. Lupin sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"I agree, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Why don't you concentrate on getting healthy and then we'll talk about it."

"All right," Harry agreed. Lupin appeared to want to say something else, but the door opened and Ginny poked her head in.

"I've got the whole team out here ready to barge in." She'd barely gotten the words out when she was forced through the door by Fred and George, who were followed by the three chasers, Wood, and finally Ron and Hermione, who looked perfectly happy. Harry watched as Lupin gave him a half-nod and slipped out to leave him with his team. Gryffindor had indeed lost, but it was only by a slim margin of twenty points thanks to the brilliant play of the six regulars. Harry didn't see any unfamiliar faces around so he assumed that Demelza (whoever she was) hadn't come with them.

The next hour was filled with merriment and general glee at Harry's amazing recovery, but Harry himself couldn't help but think about his conversation with Lupin. He had sinking feelings about both the Grim and the dementors, and there was nothing he could do about either of them at the moment. Also weighing on his mind was the knowledge that Ginny wasn't telling him something, which he'd gradually figured out since she wasn't quite herself even after eating. However, even with such thoughts on his mind, Harry managed to relax and enjoy himself despite being confined to the hospital wing.

* * *

_**A/N: **So what'd ya think? Tell me in a review!_

_Aiming for two weeks for the next update, but exams are next week so I'm not sure what's going to be going on. I'm going back to visit family as well, so that could cut into writing schedule._


	13. Meaning of a Bond

**13: Meaning of a Bond**

Eventually, the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team minus Harry and Oliver shared a significant look and began filtering out, leaving Katie behind with him and Ginny. Oliver looked more than a bit baffled, and it even took Harry a minute to figure out what was going on. He finally caught on when Hermione threw him a significant look after grabbing Ron's wrist and nearly dragging the redhead out of the room.

_Ginny, can you give Katie and I some privacy?_

_Why?_ She sounded extremely defensive.

_Because I don't want her to have to ask you._

He was convinced that she was going to refuse, but after a mental bite of resentment and a wary glance at Katie, Ginny rose and followed Hermione out the door. The fourth year chaser looked a little surprised, but her frown melted into a smile as Ginny as the door shut behind her. Harry had a vaguely uncomfortable feeling about being alone with someone who wasn't Ron, Hermione, or Ginny, but he forced it down, reasoning that it was going to be the case for a good bit of the next hour, if not longer.

"I drew the short straw - we thought one of us was going to have to ask Ginny to leave," Katie explained, grinning. Harry smiled himself in spite of everything. He knew Ginny wouldn't have left if he hadn't asked; in fact, she was sitting inside his mind at the moment, obviously hoping to pick up something from their conversation. Harry wondered if she could hear what they were saying, but he kept his thoughts quiet and didn't think about it.

"I wouldn't have envied you."

Katie laughed and nodded. "I wouldn't have either." She sat back in her chair, her eyes flicking nervously to the floor as her hands slipped into her robe pockets. "I tried to think about how to bring this up, but I couldn't think of anything, so I'll just say that you are amazing, Harry."

He blinked, and then again. He hadn't a clue what to be expecting, but he knew he would have never guessed the awe he heard in Katie's voice. He'd heard it a few times before when she was discussing some Quidditch match she'd seen, and occasionally about something that happened in practice or a match, but he'd never had it directed so specifically and directly at him. For that matter, no one had ever talked to him like that, ever.

"I...uh...thanks."

"I figured you'd be modest about it; you always have been." She gave him a roguish grin and a wink. "I don't expect you to really say anything, or even understand. It's just since I felt it, I've needed to talk about it. I'm not sure what 'it' was, but I've never felt anything like it in my life. It was like the feeling you got when you were little your mum and dad -" Katie cut off and put a hand to her mouth, her eyes widening in horror. "Oh Harry! I'm so sorry! I didn't even think -"

"It's all right," Harry said, though he felt a deep pang of depression. "You can go on."

Katie still looked disgusted with herself, but she swallowed visibly and continued. "I was going to say it felt sort of like when you're little and your mum and dad tuck you in at night, but I suppose that's a terrible example."

Harry wasn't quite sure how to respond since he hadn't a clue what that felt like, but he didn't want people tiptoeing around him like he was an emotional bomb. "Or maybe like winning the Quidditch Cup?" he asked hopefully.

She laughed and Harry saw her relax slightly. "Not quite like that, but close enough. Maybe like falling into a warm bed after Quidditch practice, but only a thousand times better. It's almost like the first time you realize someone loves you."

Harry wasn't sure what it felt like to be loved, but he didn't think he should mention that to Katie. "And you felt that from me?"

"I never thought it could be anyone else."

"What do you mean?"

She took a moment to think about it. "People feel different. Like if you're talking to me about something, and then you talk to Ron about the same thing, you're going to feel different."

Harry had to agree with that. It certainly explained how he felt about Ginny and Hermione – he cared about both of them a great deal, but his feelings were more different than night and day. "So...it felt like me?"

She nodded. "At first, I got the same feeling I always do when I talk to you, but then it got more powerful. Like you were telling me it was okay to feel this, like I was supposed to."

Harry really wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he simply said, "Oh."

A moment passed, and then Katie spoke again. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

The idea wasn't too pleasing, but Harry didn't feel right turning her down. "As long as I don't have to answer it."

"You don't, I promise. I just want to know how you feel about me, really."

"How I feel about you?"

She looked uncomfortable for the first time since entering the room. "I just felt like you loved me. Not in a boy/girl sort of way, but just like you would protect me from anything if I needed you. Like you cared about me."

Harry blinked. "Why wouldn't I care about you?"

"Well, you hardly know me."

"You think I would just let someone hurt you?"

It was Katie's turn to look confused for a moment. "No, but it wasn't..." Suddenly, a triumphant gleam appeared in her eye. "I get it now. You feel this way about everyone, don't you?"

"Feel like what?"

Katie shook her head, still smiling. "Don't worry about it. I'm just now realizing how special you really are." She frowned and cocked her head. "You know, for being on the same Quidditch team for two years, I really don't know that much about you."

Harry shifted and averted his eyes to his feet. Suddenly, the idea of talking about himself wasn't going over well. "Not really that much to know."

"And I think you're a liar," Katie said teasingly. "Something tells me there's quite a bit of Harry Potter that no one ever gets to see. Well, except for a certain Weasley..."

He turned a bright pink under her laughter and refused to comment. When Katie caught on to his pointed silence, she reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll let Angelina come in, but I'm going to get to know our star Seeker one way or another. You can count on it." She rose and headed toward the door, but as she put her hand on the handle, she turned and looked back at him.

"And thank you, Harry." She winked again and slipped out, leaving Harry in a state of mental confusion. Her attitude was nothing new - Katie was always light and fluffy - but there was an undercurrent of seriousness in her last few words. What was she thanking him for, and did she really mean to find out more about him? And why would she suddenly want to do that?

The door opened again and as expected, Angelina stepped into the room with a decidedly different aura about her than Katie had. Harry knew at once this would be more like the serious conversations he'd been expecting. Katie was nice like that - nothing seemed to be too serious when she was around.

"Hello, Harry." The dark-skinned girl looked and sounded very shy, which was odd, even for her. She was definitely the quietest of the Gryffindor Chasers, but that wasn't saying much when grouped with Katie and Alicia. Harry glanced at the chair Katie had vacated and motioned for Angelina to sit down. He felt kind of silly, listening to girls two years his senior talking to him about some amazing feeling when he hadn't a clue how it felt, but Katie had said it was something she needed to do. Perhaps it was the same for the other two.

"So how are you?"

Harry half-smiled. "Getting better." He realized that it could take forever at the rate that she was going, so he decided to break the ice himself. "Katie said it was amazing."

Angelina laughed softly. "It certainly was that." She paused, thinking. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about it for very long, but I'm still not sure how to describe it." Her eyes lit up momentarily before they turned to lock her gaze with Harry. "It was like a warm hug, except a lot more...personal. I almost felt like I was somewhere I shouldn't be."

Harry already knew he wasn't good at dealing with deep emotions (reinforced by Ginny teasing him about it), so he felt very lost even though he could recognize that Angelina was sharing very powerful feelings with him. However, the last thing he wanted to do was to make her feel like he didn't care or that she didn't matter to him.

"If it makes any difference, I don't mind." That wasn't exactly true, but close enough. After then after remembering what Katie had said, Harry added, "I reckon it can't be too bad if you got to know me a little better."

Her eyebrows rose slightly in surprise and she seemed to be caught off-guard. "I...I suppose not. I know this is going to sound silly, but I felt like I could see your soul, and it was brilliant. I've never felt so much love in one place."

Harry wondered if they'd gotten together and talked about it beforehand, because Katie had mentioned love as well. If there was only one thing Harry knew about the situation, it was that he hadn't a clue what love felt like. He certainly hadn't had many people to love him during his childhood. The closest thing he could approximate to it was his relationship with Ginny, and he wasn't sure that was love either.

"I don't think it's silly," Harry finally said. Angelina smiled and nodded.

"We can't change what we feel, right?"

Harry pondered that for a moment. "I suppose that's true." He certainly hadn't been able to stop being angry at Ginny even though he knew it was hurting her.

"So do you mind if I try to get to know you a little better?"

Harry's eyebrows furrowed. "Why would I?"

"You just seem like a private person. Fred and George said that it was probably best to give you your space and let you come to us."

"The twins said that?" Harry was surprised – he didn't expect them to say anything that observant, especially if it didn't have anything to do with humor. Now that he thought about it, the twins had left him relatively alone while at the Burrow over the summer before his second year, as well as during school. He'd just thought it was because they were busy with their own things.

"Yeah."

"Well, I don't mind." Harry said, and then added, "When were you talking to them about me?"

Much to his surprise, Angelina looked a little embarrassed. "Just in passing. You know, curious about our Seeker." She paused and glanced at the door. "I think I'll go grab Alicia. She really wanted to be last, so there's probably something she wants to tell you." She stood and looked down at him with a serene smile. "You may not understand this now, but thank you, Harry." She slipped gracefully from the room, leaving him in a state of mental chaos. Now he was sure that Angelina and Katie had talked about it beforehand, but that didn't change the fact that he could tell they meant every word. Well, he thought he could tell. Maybe he was just all wrong and they were only saying this to make him feel better. Yeah, that -

"Harry?"

He blinked and looked up. Alicia had come in so quietly he hadn't even noticed. Something was different about her - there wasn't the familiar excitement about her that Harry usually saw. Granted, he mostly saw her while playing Quidditch, but still, there was something a bit off. His eyebrows crease slightly in thought as he gestured to the chair, which Alicia took.

"Angelina and Katie were really happy with whatever you told them," Alicia said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"They didn't tell you about it?" For some reason, this surprised him.

She shook her head. "No...we decided that this isn't something to share. Girls do have limits on what we gossip about, you know."

Harry laughed, unable to stop himself. If Ginny was any example with her friends, that was a complete lie. But then again, Ginny was much younger and maybe didn't have anything serious that shouldn't be shared. "Sorry...I suppose I just don't understand girls."

Alicia shook her head. "You're not meant to."

The conversation dipped into a bit of a dead end, so Harry searched for a question to break the awkwardness. "So why wouldn't it be something to share?"

He felt her gaze rest on him for a long time while she decided how to answer the question. "It just feels like it. It felt like something between you and I that no one else should be a part of, even though I don't even really know you." A bit of pink tinged her cheeks. "I know that sounds silly and stupid."

Despite wondering what that could mean, and knowing the thought of sharing something like that was disturbing, Harry shook his head and repeated Angelina's words. "We can't change what we feel."

Alicia stared at him, obviously surprised by such a statement. "You're really mature for a thirteen year old, you know that?"

Harry flushed and stared down at his feet. It seemed no matter what he did, someone seemed to praise and admire him for it. "Uh...thanks?"

"It's a compliment, I promise." She leaned forward in her chair, almost timidly. "I'm an orphan too, you know."

Harry's eyebrows shot into his hair. "You are?" It didn't escape him that he should probably know that.

She nodded. "I don't tell people because I don't want them to treat me differently, but I live with an aunt and uncle." Harry winced, but he tried to cover it as much as possible. "I have one or two memories of my dad, but he died when I was five. I never knew my mum."

For his part, Harry was speechless. After a long moment, he finally whispered, "I'm sorry."

Alicia put on a brave smile and shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I just don't want you to think you're alone in the world, you know?"

"Is that what you felt? That I was alone?" Harry asked.

She leaned back, shaking her head vigorously. "No, no! Well...sort of." She sighed. "There is obviously someone in your life that cares about you..." she trailed off, glancing toward the door. Her implication of the people outside was obvious. "But I just know what it's like to be surrounded by friends and still feel alone. I know without my mum and dad around there's a place in my life that will never be filled."

Harry's mind did a double take at that last sentence. That was exactly what it felt like, though he could never have put it in so many words. No matter how much Ron and Hermione cared for him, or even Ginny, he still wouldn't have the kind of family they did, and he would never know what it was like to have both of his parents alive. He looked up at Alicia and saw her in a completely different light. This wasn't the excited, driven Alicia that he saw almost daily on the Quidditch pitch - right now, she looked almost vulnerable.

"We'll never know what it's like to have a mum and dad to tuck us in at night..." Harry murmured absently, but then a sniff brought him back from his thoughts. He saw a tear slipping down Alicia's cheek even though she was attempting to smile at him. She turned her head to hide it as a hand reached up to wipe it away.

"I never realized how special you are," Alicia said, almost to herself. "I mean, you're Harry Potter, of course you're special, but..." She paused. "I couldn't explain why, but I felt so loved when you...you know...but I think now I get it." Without a further explanation, she kissed the pads of her fingers, and then pressed them against his cheek. "Thank you, Harry."

Without another word, she swiftly stood and disappeared through the door, leaving Harry with a million unanswered questions and a head spinning like mad. He could feel Ginny pacing inside of his head, ready to explode, but for once he was able to put her out of his mind even though she felt extremely frustrated. He'd never seen anything even resembling an emotional display from any of his teammates, and it wasn't quite real in his mind. Unfortunately, before he could even begin to process anything, Fred and George plopped down in chairs by his bed with frowns on their faces.

"So what'd you say to Alicia?" George asked. He didn't sound accusatory, exactly, but there was something hard about his tone.

"It's not something to be shared," Harry said quietly. Between what the three girls had said, he didn't even have to think about his answer.

"Lemme guess. The girls told you to say that?" Fred inquired.

Harry shook his head, feeling a little irritated. "No."

The twins exchanged a look and sighed in unison. Fred's gazed bored into Harry as if redhead was trying to read his mind. "I hope you didn't hurt her."

Harry blinked. He hadn't thought about it that way - maybe what he'd said _had_ hurt her. "Me too."

The twins seemed baffled by this response, but they didn't pursue it. Harry felt an explosion of satisfaction and smugness from Ginny just as he felt her presence in his mind expand. His guesses at what it could mean were cut off by George's voice.

"What are your intentions toward our sister?"

Harry's back stiffened and he recoiled from here George was leaning against the bed. He'd never expected that question, even though Fred had mentioned it the night before. "Wh-What do you mean?"

George sighed, looking almost defeated. "When you exploded, we felt what everyone else did. You're amazing, and we will never make a joke about that. But Harry, what we felt wasn't completely you - Ginny was in there somewhere, and we'd like to know why."

Harry had never seen either of the twins this serious, and it was very disconcerting. Something about their faces just made him ready to laugh at something they'd said, or a tale they were telling, but when his gaze somehow caught George's, he could tell there was nothing but hard resolve behind them. He wasn't lying when he said they weren't joking around.

_We're just best friends, Harry, nothing more. So what if you feel a lot of love for your best friends?_

"We're just best friends," Harry said, wondering how in the world Ginny knew what the twins were saying.

"Really?" Fred asked. It didn't sound like he believed Harry one bit.

_That prick...like he would know what it meant to care for a friend, _Ginny said angrily.

"Why?" Harry asked.

George shifted uncomfortably and nudged his twin in the arm, but Fred ignored it and pushed on. "Because it's in our interest to protect our little sister, and if you're -"

_That arse! I'm going to -_

"How can you say that?!" George cut in, silencing both Ginny and Fred. He turned toward his twin and stared, abandoning all subtlety. "After what you and I felt, how can you possibly ask if Harry has Ginny's best interests in mind? You're mad!"

"We've had this conversation, brother," Fred replied irritably.

"We have, and you're wrong, Fred." George said before glancing up a Harry and back. "You're absolutely wrong." With that, George stood and strode out of the room, leaving three stunned people behind. Fred glanced at Harry, who was feeling the backlash of both his and Ginny's shock, and then followed his brother out into the hallway and past the curious eyes peering in.

_I don't believe it..._Ginny whispered in his mind as she returned to her own.

_Don't believe what?_

_Fred and George - they never fight._

Harry's forehead creased. _It had to happen sometime._

He could feel Ginny's denial. _No, you don't understand. Not even Mum has seen or heard them fight. I think this might be the first time. _She paused, and then as this sunk in, she added, _And don't feel guilty, for Merlin's sake!_

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny re-entered the room, but no one else followed them. Harry wondered briefly where everyone else was, but he put aside the thought before he started wondering if he really had hurt them. Maybe Fred was more right than he wanted to admit.

"So, er, what was that all about?" Ron asked. He tried to appear uninterested, but Harry could tell he was dying to know.

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed. "It's something between them and Harry, Ron. I told you. It's impossible for you to understand if you weren't there."

Ron rolled his eyes, almost mocking her, and made an annoyed sound, but he soon found his way over to a chair at the homework table. To Harry, he seemed a little depressed, but Hermione didn't seem to notice anything so it could have been his imagination.

_So what did you talk about?_

Harry looked up at Ginny, surprised. _I thought you could hear everything,_ he replied with a touch of bitterness.

_Not until Fred and George came in, _Ginny shot back. _Look Harry, I don't want to fight anymore, so can you not get all defensive?_

_Don't ask me to tell you things that aren't your business, _Harry replied, and then turned his attention to Hermione. "Did you want to talk about anything?"

She shook her head, smiling. "I didn't feel anything I didn't already know, Harry."

Whatever that meant was lost on Harry because he was distracted as Ginny went over to sit by Ron, obviously pouting. Hermione glanced over at the two Weasleys and then back down at Harry. "What happened?" she whispered.

"She wanted me to tell her what I was talking about. She's probably listening right now, but it's none of her business." He kept his voice low so Ron and Ginny were out of earshot.

Hermione's eyes widened and her jaw opened and closed a couple times. "She's what?"

Harry sighed. "She's probably listening. That's what's been happening - we've been sharing senses ever since Ginny fell down the stairs. That's why she fell down, because she had my vision in her head and missed a step. It's been like that for a while, but I think we're learning to control it now. I was seeing out of her eyes the whole time I had the bandage on."

_You plan on telling her everything? _Ginny snapped.

_I thought you didn't want to fight?_

Harry felt her frustration rise and he thought he was about to get screamed at, but she finally deflated and visibly sunk back into her chair, feeling only defeated. _I don't._

"So...you can always see and hear what each other can?" Hermione asked.

Harry shook his head. "No...we get sick if we do that."

Hermione was quick to catch on. "Because our brain can't process two senses at the same time?"

Harry nodded. "It was a lot easier when I couldn't see." He could almost see the gears in her brain grinding away, so he left her alone and focused back on Ginny, who was whispering quietly to Ron. He reached out and opened the door to her mind before stepping in and straining to hear was she was saying. It took a moment, but he finally was able to make out the words.

"Everyone has their secrets, Ron." Ginny said irritably.

_I still think we should tell him._

Ginny groaned. _Harry, don't pick fights. Seriously, I'm tired._

_Then go get some sleep!_

_Fine, I will._

And with that, she got up and left the hospital wing without a word. Ron and Hermione looked after her in surprise, though Harry though he saw a vague glance in his direction from the latter. He knew Ginny wasn't really angry with him - their feelings were so much different than their words - but it still irked him that they had unresolved issues. Ginny was still hiding something and her irritability was a result of that, not anything he was doing. He'd thought after this fight everything would go back to normal, but apparently he'd been wrong.

------

Harry spent the next few days in the hospital wing, quite a bit of it alone and doing homework. Dumbledore had been in and told Ron, Hermione, and Ginny that they were not excused from any more classes. Harry had tried repeatedly to get Ginny to open up, but she always made excuses and always seemed to have either Ron or Hermione around to help her case. It was mostly Hermione, since any time she wasn't in class, she was with Harry doing homework or reading books that were covered by something Muggles used to protect their books. Harry had asked her why she covered the books, but she'd refused to answer with a furtive glance at Ron.

On the second day, Harry had given up trying to get Hermione to get outside, since she said she would just be studying anyway. Harry wondered how she worked all hours of the day seemingly without stopping, but after several pointed subject changes whenever he brought it up, he gave up on that too. Instead they spent a lot of the time in silence, which was fine since Ginny was there and he could talk to her. She seemed to be in good spirits, their bickering of Saturday forgotten, though there was still something she didn't want to think or talk about.

Alicia, Angelina, and Katie had been in at least once a day, sometimes individually, most of the time together. Harry was most interested in making sure he hadn't hurt Alicia as Fred had suggested, but the blonde seemed to be back into her normal, positive spirits. Well, as positive as anyone on the Quidditch team could be after an embarrassing loss to Hufflepuff.

The two people that Harry didn't see were Fred and George. He hadn't expected the twins to come see him, but there was a little bit of hope that they would and make him laugh. He was allowed to walk around the hospital wing, but Madam Pomfrey insisted upon keeping him confined and under observation, which was terribly depressing. Whenever Harry protested that he was feeling fine, the medi-witch threatened to remove the Numbing Charm, which quieted him. He knew the reasons why he couldn't just walk around with a completely numbed head, but it didn't make him feel any better about his confinement.

Thursday morning came with no increased hope of being released, but as lunchtime grew closer and Harry watched the clock in anticipation of Ron and Hermione coming to see him after Potions, Madam Pomfrey gave him the good news.

"Well, Mr. Potter, if you are able to make it through lunch without the Numbing Charm, I do believe you'll be free to go."

Harry did a double take, and then immediately found Ginny with his mind, who was wandering aimlessly through the halls in the general direction of the hospital wing. Harry understood why - she was waiting for either Ron or Hermione to get there before she did, so Harry couldn't corner her.

_Madam Pomfrey is letting me out today!_

He'd expected her to be excited as well, and while he did detect some surprised joy, it wasn't nearly what he'd thought. _She is?_

_Are you not happy about it?_

Ginny groaned and started heading toward him without wandering. _I am, Harry, I just...Can I explain it later?_

_Sure...but...why are you sad?_

She didn't respond and Harry was left in the dark until Ron and Hermione arrived with food. Madam Pomfrey was already incanting to remove the charm, and when she did, Harry felt an unpleasant tingling and a dull pain, but he was determined not to show it. It was only a small irritation, and hopefully it would go away if he ignored it.

"If you experience any sort of pain Mr. Potter, tell me immediately."

"I will," Harry promised, though he wasn't going to if he could help it. A little bit of pain in the back of the head was nothing compared to the freedom of not spending most of the day either in a bed or in a chair.

"I brought you the Potions notes, if you want them," Hermione said doubtfully. He took them even though she was right - he could care less what had happened during Potions, especially with Ginny acting and feeling as weird as she was.

"What's up with you today, mate?" Ron asked around a bite of food. He'd already made himself comfortable in a chair and propped his feet up on Harry's bed, which Madam Pomfrey would have scolded him for had she seen him. As it was, Hermione was giving him a look of disgust.

"She's finally letting me out," Harry said absently, but his attention was on looking anywhere but the door as Ginny walked in. He didn't want anyone to think he'd been waiting for her, even though she could probably tell that he'd wanted nothing else.

_We'll talk tonight, all right Harry? I...I've got something I need to talk to you about, but not here._

Harry sighed internally. _All right._

"Shouldn't you be happy about that?" Ron asked. "You look like you just lost a Snitch or something."

Harry shook his head and forced a smile. "No, just a little out of it. I think I've been doing too much work."

Ron laughed and Hermione rolled her eyes, which was a good sign for Harry. The conversation over lunch descended into Hermione trying to get Harry to at least think about Potions for a bit, Ron trying to tell Hermione she was working too hard between food and teasing Harry about being an invalid, and Ginny being really quiet and pensive. Harry finally gave up trying to understand and decided to hold off until that night, when hopefully he would get some answers.

About a half hour later, Madam Pomfrey came in from her office and immediately scolded Ron for his feet. To his credit, the redhead put on a sheepish expression and removed them, but he didn't appear sorry in the least. Harry didn't blame him, either.

"Well, Mr. Potter?"

Harry shrugged. "Feels fine to me."

The medi-witch made a clucking noise, and shook her head. "Well then, as soon as you clean up this mess, you're free to go. Try to stay out for a while this time, will you?"

Harry chuckled. "I'll try."

During the process of cleaning up lunch, Hermione glanced at Harry and bit her lip. "Harry? Are you sure you're ready?"

He stared. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Her eyes met the floor. "I mean, you've been gone for almost a week and no one really knows what happened to you."

"I'm sure there are plenty of rumors," Harry said darkly.

"Well, there are those..."

After a bit of silence, Harry shook his head. "I'm not going to be scared of walking around Hogwarts, Hermione. It's not like I can avoid it."

Nothing else was said on the subject even as the four left the hospital wing. Hermione was right - they hadn't gone down two corridors before people started whispering and pointing at him. Harry wondered why they didn't have anything else to do other than to talk about him, but he tried to ignore it. Regardless of any weirdness between them, Ginny did extend a mental embrace which he accepted gratefully.

Defense was as normal as Harry could have expected. He supposed being with fellow Gryffindors helped, even though he could tell that people were looking at him strangely. It was a lot like his first year, when everyone was still getting used to having the Harry Potter in their classes. Lupin, thankfully, said nothing about welcoming Harry back to class and didn't act as though anything was different. He did ask Harry a few questions during his lecture, but that was no different than usual, even if Harry recited the answers in Hermione-like style after spending so much time studying out of boredom. The last time, Harry almost thought he spotted a smile on the Professor's face.

After the class, they met up with Ginny on the way down to the Great Hall for dinner. Once they entered the massive chamber, Harry spotted Katie and Alicia waving them over to a curiously empty section of table. Confused, he nudged Hermione and Ron and nodded before heading in the girls' direction. Harry wound up taking a seat between Ginny and Katie, with Ron and Hermione sitting opposite them next to Angelina.

"We heard that you'd gotten out today and thought we'd save a seat," Katie explained.

"Er, thanks." Harry said as he loaded up his plate. Having food up in the hospital just wasn't quite the same as having it fresh off the plate, and he was starving.

"So can you play?" Angelina asked.

Harry paused as he was pouring some pumpkin juice. "Play what?"

Angelina rolled her eyes. "Quidditch! I mean, I know you hit your head, but you remember how to play, don't you?"

Harry laughed and took a sip of his drink. "I suppose." He'd just been about to take his first bite of dinner when he heard a very unpleasant voice for the first time in a good while.

"Hey Potter!"

Harry turned to look at Draco, but he found that Alicia, Katie, and Ginny were already glaring daggers at him. The Slytherin looked vaguely surprised, but he quickly regained his mask of confidence and sneer.

"I see you're getting around. Was one not enough?"

Harry felt Katie tense next to him, so he cut her off. "Don't." If anyone was going to get caught doing something to Draco, it was going to be him.

"Go away, Malfoy, unless you'd rather spend another few hours in the hospital wing. I kept it all warm and cozy for you."

Malfoy flinched at the memory, but stood his ground. "More likely you'll get one of your _friends_ to take the blame for you."

Harry was about to retort, but Lupin appeared out of nowhere and put a hand on Draco's shoulder. "And if one of his friends happens to be a teacher?"

Malfoy raised an eyebrow, clearly unintimidated. "It's nothing Professor. Potter and I were just having a little chat."

Lupin smiled. "I find that highly unlikely, Mr. Malfoy, as you have shown a particular dislike for Mr. Potter in the past. Why don't you go find one of your friends to talk to?" If his suggestion wasn't enough, Lupin gestured vaguely toward the Slytherin table. Draco hesitated, and after giving Harry one last dirty look, sulked off to join Crabbe and Goyle.

"Try to keep your head down, won't you Harry?" Lupin suggested before moving off to join the staff table for dinner. After staring after the Professor for a moment, Harry turned and attacked his dinner in an attempt to put the incident out of his mind.

------

Harry had never been so anxious for dinner to be over, but he didn't want to leave and seem like he was being rude. Ginny tried to soothe his feelings and reassure him, but it didn't help much because she was the source of his anxiety. He wanted to know what she was so afraid to tell him, or even admit to herself, but with Herculean effort, he held pleasant conversation with those around him until everyone decided to head back up to the common room.

It didn't escape his notice that the older Gryffindors were on either side of him and shielding him from the general population of Hogwarts. They tried to be inconspicuous about it, but the little things gave it away. The biggest thing Harry noticed was a death glare from Alicia that sent a younger student scurrying away after he'd only looked at Harry with wide eyes. Although the protection irritated him in a way, he was glad he didn't have to be on display quite as much as he'd thought so he didn't say anything of it.

When they got back to the common room, nothing could have prepared Harry for what he saw. The moment he stepped through the portrait hole, he could almost feel the magic flow through him. There was nothing drastically different about the decorations, but the changes were immediately noticeable. The most obvious difference was everything looked brand new. The common room wasn't in bad shape to begin with, but everyone had been able to tell that the decorations and furnishings were wearing down, even with magic to help restore them. Now, all the pillows were perfectly fluffed, the sofas didn't have the odd tear in the side, old scorch marks from errant magic were no longer visible on the stone walls.

Beyond that, the Gryffindor-colored decorations around the room _shined_. They simply couldn't be described any other way. Before, the casual non-Gryffindor observer would have said that the banners, rugs, pillows, and even the sconces on the walls were either red or yellow, but now they could only be described as crimson and gold. Just from looking at them, Harry felt at home.

"Nice, isn't it?" Ron said amusedly as he pushed Harry the rest of the way through the portrait hole. Harry tore his eyes away from the changes and glanced around, a little discomforted by the sly smiles on the faces of his friends. Ron had told him about this while he was in the hospital, but he hadn't remembered until now that anything would be any different.

"Yeah," Harry said. He scanned the room again and saw that most of the Gryffindors were staring at him without shame, but he ignored them. After another moment of disbelief, he shuffled over to the table and dropped his bag next to the chair he plopped down in.

_I did that?_

_Yep. _Ginny smiled. _It's because you're beautiful on the inside._

Harry had to grin, even if the joke was aimed at him. _You've been waiting a while to say that, haven't you?_

_Maybe..._

He rolled his eyes and turned to Hermione, who was giving him a pointed look. He realized a bit too late that Ron was looking at him funny, probably for his seemingly random grin.

"I suppose I could always work as an interior designer," Harry quipped, though his voice was a little distracted. _I want to tell Ron about us._

_No!_

_Why not? He's my best mate, he deserves to know._

"Oh, Harry, Dumbledore wanted me to remind you that you have detention tonight at eight," Hermione said offhandedly as she settled down behind a book. Harry saw Ron's eyebrows furrow even as Ginny's voice resounded in his head.

_Because no one is supposed to know! Ron can't keep a secret, and besides, he's not going to take it well._

Harry groaned. "I forgot about that." _All right all right. I was just suggesting._

_You'd better be._

Ginny stalked off up to the girls' staircase, but thankfully Harry could tell that she wasn't mad at him. If she'd been completely honest (which, she was, though she would never say it in words), she wasn't completely opposed to the idea. It was getting draining pretending that there wasn't anything particularly special between them all the time, since Ron was pretty much wherever Harry was.

"What's up with Ginny?" Ron asked, perplexed. His gaze directed the question at both Harry and Hermione, as if he was unsure who would more likely know the answer.

"Got me," Harry replied, and Hermione made and indifferent noise. For once Harry actually didn't know what was wrong with her - he was hoping to find out tonight, but with Dumbledore's detention, he hadn't a clue what was going to happen.

_Ginny?_

He felt her sigh. _Yes?_

_Are you going to listen to what Dumbledore tells me?_

She paused. _What makes you think he's going to tell you anything?_

Harry leaned back into his chair and pretended to be looking around at the newly redecorated common room. _I don't know. He told me that he didn't think scrubbing floors would help, so I don't think he'll make me do that._

Ginny hesitated even longer this time. _I will if you want me to._

_Why wouldn't I?_

_Because I know you don't like people being around you all the time, and maybe I'm not supposed to hear it._

Harry thought about that for a moment. _Anything I'm supposed to hear, I want you to hear too. I mean, if it affects me, it has to affect you too, doesn't it?_

_I guess so._

"Harry!"

He was jolted from his internal conversation by Katie's voice from across the common room. His eyes met hers in a form of acknowledgment.

"You want a game of Snap?"

Harry glanced over at Ron and Hermione, who seemed just as confused as he was. Well, Hermione was trying to look confused, but it almost seemed like she expected it. Perhaps this was what the chasers had meant by getting to know him better. Hermione kicked him under the table and nodded slightly before gluing her eyes back to her book.

_Well, what's the worst that could happen?_

As if to answer his questions, Ginny's feelings flared inside of him, pure jealousy if he'd ever felt it. It was easier to admit such feelings when they weren't his own. She clamped down on them as quickly as possible as embarrassment began to show, but Harry wasn't going to miss or ignore something like that.

_If you don't want me to, I won't._

_That's silly, Harry. This is my problem, not yours._

_I don't want to hurt you._

_You're not hurting me, I'm just being silly. _She gave him the slight mental push that signified the end of a conversation, making Harry feel really uneasy. However, with Katie and now the other chasers plus a few Gryffindor fourth years looking at him expectantly, he rose and made his way over to where they were playing. As he sat down, he noticed Hermione close her book and start talking quietly to Ron. The redhead didn't look exactly unhappy with the situation, but Harry made a mental note to ask why he looked so uncomfortable, and to ask Hermione if she'd planned to corner him like that.

------

"Have a seat, Harry. I promise tonight will be nothing of the unpleasantness our last meeting turned out to be."

Harry slipped into the surprisingly comfortable chair that Dumbledore offered him as he felt Ginny slip attentively inside of his mind. As he waited, Harry wondered if the Headmaster conjured all the chairs that were in his office because except for the one behind the desk, they never seemed to be quite the same.

"Care for a lemon drop?"

_He wouldn't be Dumbledore if he didn't offer, _Harry said dryly, causing a spark of amusement inside of Ginny. "No thank you Professor."

The old wizard smiled and popped one of the hard candies into his own mouth before removing his half-moon spectacles. "I would like to begin tonight by asking if there is anything you wish to talk about. It mustn't be anything of vital importance - as old as I may seem, I do remember what it was like to be a young teenager once a upon a time." His silvery blue eyes twinkled in a warm sort of way, one that softened Harry's reflexive defenses.

"Actually, there is one thing," Harry said, much to Ginny's confusion. "What happened to the common room?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "I believe that, Harry, was your doing. Not only did you affect the people around you, but you seem to have affected your environment as well. An impressive bit of magic, if I do say so myself."

Harry shook his head. "But you don't know why it happened?"

The Headmaster took a moment to think, and for the first time, his eyes left Harry's. "To be entirely truthful, no. I can only guess at the causes for such a dramatic event."

"What would you guess?" Harry pressed.

Dumbledore sighed. "I have only a hypothesis, but I believe that your emotional involvement with Miss Weasley at the time would have made you especially vulnerable to attack and magically unstable." Dumbledore's eyebrows furrowed. "Though even with such circumstances, nothing of that magnitude should have been possible." He looked up, as if noticing Harry was still in the room. "Forgive me for thinking aloud - perhaps explaining a few things will help this become clearer." Dumbledore took a sip of water from a cup Harry hadn't noticed upon entering the room, and then continued.

"Emotions can be powerful amplifiers of magic, though most witches and wizards today don't think much of it. You will find that when frustrated, angry, or even joyful your magical capabilities will increase. When emotionally charged, both wizards and Muggles experience heightened awareness and physical ability; I believe Muggles describe this as the fight or flight response. With magical beings, however, this also extends to how responsive their magic is to their command. This is one of the explanations behind the ability for wizards to reach into their magical core in times of need. During your altercation with Miss Weasley, I believe your emotions began to get out of hand and you entered this heightened state of awareness. When Mr. Weasley's stunner reacted with your already excited system, it may have caused a reaction."

Harry took a moment to absorb everything Dumbledore was telling him, which the Headmaster was happy to allow him. "But why me? Why would I be any different than stunning anyone else?"

"If you had the answer to that, Harry, I do believe you would be a smarter man than I. The only explanation I can count among the realm of the possible is that you had a second, more powerful magical presence waiting underneath the surface and when you were struck by the spell, it saw a way to free itself. However, I have no evidence to support this and even if I had, it is an entirely theoretical field of study."

Harry couldn't make much sense of it either, though he tried to remember every word so he could repeat it to Hermione later. Harry might not have had the mind to match someone like Dumbledore, but Hermione definitely did and she had a lot more knowledge on her side.

"Thank you, Professor." Harry eventually said. Dumbledore nodded and took the hint.

"May I ask if you have held a wand since you left Madam Pomfrey's care?"

Harry thought back and realized that he hadn't except to put it in his pocket. Ginny had held onto it for him the entire week after the incident, since Madam Pomfrey had put a no magic rule on him and Ginny was determined that he was going to follow it, no matter how bored he got.

"Only to put it in my pocket."

Dumbledore nodded. "Do you have it with you?"

Harry's forehead creased. He always had his wand with him, no matter where he went. He wasn't sure why anyone would want to leave it behind anywhere. "Yes sir."

"I want to try a few things, just out of curiosity. Could you please take it out?"

Harry did as he was instructed, feeling a bit foolish. He wondered what the Headmaster could possibly want, since there was hardly anything impressive in Harry's spell library.

"If you could, attempt to levitate this cup and focus on how using magic makes you feel, particularly if you notice anything different than before your injury."

Harry called the incantation to mind instinctively - it was a first year spell after all - and swish-flicked his wand to levitate the cup. Unfortunately, Dumbledore was absolutely correct; it did feel different. Normally, Harry had to concentrate and work to push the spell down his arm and out though the wand, but this time, it seemed easy, almost effortless, and it showed. Almost instantaneously, the cup rocketed 3 feet into the air and sat perfectly still on a direct line from Harry's wand.

"Very good, Harry." Dumbledore stroked his beard. "Is that a typical result for you?"

Harry, unsure of what to do with the cup, let it hang there. "Er...no, I suppose not."

"How would you consider it different?"

"It was easier, like I didn't have to fight it for the spell to work."

"Fight it?"

Harry gulped. "Uh...yes sir. Usually I have to concentrate on pushing the spell out before anything happens."

Dumbledore's eyes lit up, as if he'd heard something extraordinary. "So you feel the magic before it is actually used?"

Now Harry was just confused. "Doesn't everyone?"

The Headmaster chuckled. "No, I don't believe so. You may put the cup down." Harry tried to let it float softly to the desk, but it wound up making a hard clank and spilling some of the water, which didn't seem to bother Dumbledore at all.

"I had a feeling that might happen. You see, Harry, I believe you've unlocked a secondary source of power within yourself, given that my earlier theory is true. You mentioned fighting the spell to make it work - it would not surprise me to discover that you were actually fighting a magical block as well as attempting to learn the spells you were assigned. To use a Muggle reference you might be familiar with, it would be as if you put weights in your shoes to train for a race."

Harry caught on rather quickly. "And now the weights are gone?"

"That is my guess. I would advise you to exercise caution when attempting spells for the first time. Control is always more important than power. The simple fact that you can feel your magic before it is used speaks volumes of your talent."

Harry nodded. "So not everyone feels magic when they use it?"

For the first time, Dumbledore's light-hearted expression flickered. "Harry, you are a very talented wizard with an astounding amount of potential. I only tell you this in warning, because you must be diligent in your studies and learn to control your gift, because the consequences if you do not could be dire."

Harry shivered, and for that matter, so did Ginny. He wasn't sure he liked the idea of being so powerful that he could cause bad things to happen without meaning to. Of course, it wasn't such a new idea - he caused "bad things" to happen on a regular basis while with the Dursleys - but still, there was nothing comforting about it.

"I believe I've given you enough to think about, Harry. These detentions themselves are short, but I do hope you will take into account what I've said and not forget it."

"I won't, Professor."

"If there is nothing more, then you are free to go."

Harry took one last look at the aging Headmaster before standing and heading toward the door. Dumbledore had been right about one thing - tonight was nothing like the last detention session, but he wasn't sure which he preferred. At least Black was someone he could be angry with. This was something completely different, and it put even more responsibility on his shoulders that he knew he hadn't a clue how to handle.

As he headed down the stairs and past the gargoyle, his only comfort was Ginny's soft voice in his head.

_No matter what, Harry, I'll always be there with you. Don't forget that either._

------

Ron and Hermione immediately sensed his mood when Harry arrived back in the common room. He could tell they'd been ready to pounce on him, but once they caught wind of his expression, they backed off and waited for him to come over to them. Judging by the books on the table, it appeared as though they'd been doing a lot of homework, which was odd considering Ron had been sitting there when Harry arrived. Maybe Hermione had actually convinced him to work on something ahead of time. Or perhaps he was rushing at the last minute to finish a Runes essay that was due the next morning.

Ginny made her presence known just before Harry sat down across from Ron and next to Hermione by taking the seat next to Harry's. He hadn't really expected her to come down since she could hear everything through his ears, but apparently she wanted to be able to add her input in person. Harry related everything from Dumbledore's meeting as best he could, leaving nothing out even though Ron adopted an odd expression at the suggestion that Harry was emotionally involved with his sister in any way. Harry could see Hermione's brain engage in problem solving mode even before his first words left his tongue. By the time he was done, Ginny was inside his mind adding a warm comfort to combat his mental exhaustion.

"So you're going to be even more powerful than you already are?" Ron asked immediately.

"I suppose."

"Wicked."

Hermione rolled her eyes and huffed, and Harry privately agreed with her. "Not everything is about power, Ron. What if he can't control it?"

"Then his cleaning spells will be extra clean?"

The other three had to crack a smile at that, but Hermione was persistent. "What if Harry tried to disarm you, except you crashed head first into a wall, even though it was only supposed to be practice?"

Ron balked, but that was nothing to Harry's response. A dark feeling swept through him, one that smacked of self-loathing even as Ginny gave Hermione an icy glare. Harry stopped Ginny before she reached out for him physically, but that didn't stop him from wondering just how right Hermione was. Suddenly, Dumbledore's words made all the much more sense, and his warning seemed deadly.

"Of course, Harry would never lose control like that," Hermione tried, but that only made it worse. He had been about to lose control with Ginny, and if there was nothing stopping him, he could easily wind up killing her.

_Harry! Whatever you're thinking, just stop it!_

"You all right there Harry? You look a little sick."

Ron's voice caught Harry's attention more than anything. His ability to miss the obvious was astounding, and sometimes it was perfect. Harry laughed, and though it was strained, the tension broke all the same.

"Yes Ron, I'm all right even though I could possibly kill someone by accident."

His comment was followed by shocked silence and uneasy glances exchanged between Ron, Ginny, and Hermione. Harry wasn't sure exactly what he was feeling other than enormous pressure. A few moments passed before anyone could say anything, and then it was Ginny who broke the ice.

"Ron, do you want a game of chess?"

Something so glaringly normal seemed absurd in the current situation, but Ron took her up on it all the same. Harry wondered if it was really that nice to get away from him, but Hermione moved her chair toward him before he could follow that line of thought to the end.

"Look Harry, I didn't mean -"

"I know you didn't."

"If it helps, I think I know what happened."

Harry's eyes and ears perked up. It really didn't make him feel any better, but it would satisfy his curiosity. He was about to ask before he paused and changed his mind.

"You haven't been working on the whole time I was in the hospital wing, have you?"

Hermione shifted uncomfortably. "Not the whole time..."

Harry groaned. "Hermione, you don't have to do that, and I don't want you to do that. You have enough to do already."

"I like doing it."

"You like school work too."

Hermione laughed softly. "But I want to figure this out."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to figure this out?"

"Because it's difficult," she replied, though Harry could tell it was more than that. Luckily, Ginny supplied the answer. _And because it makes her feel like she's worthy of your friendship._ Harry's head spun and his eyes faded in and out of focus at the idea before he looked at Hermione again. Now that Ginny pointed it out, everything fell into place, including Hermione's pleading gleam in her eye.

"You shouldn't feel like you have to do it."

"I don't, why would I?"

Harry shook his head. "Hermione, I'm not going to stop being your friend if you don't figure things out all the time."

Her lips parted to retort, but whatever she was going to say died before it even got to her throat. Suddenly, her eyes watered and she had to blink them away before regaining control of herself.

"That's not it," she said half-heartedly, and completely unbelievably. Harry knew this wasn't the time to press it, not when she was so close to breaking down again, so he changed the subject.

"Well, I suppose you can't change the fact that you're brilliant. Now what do you think happened?"

He could almost see her brain spinning. "Are you talking or is Ginny?"

"Both. I mean, I am, but it's kind of hard not to listen to her when she's right."

Hermione sighed and rubbed her temples with her fingers. "I suppose I'm going to have to get used to this, aren't I? Now that you can hear everything each other can?"

Harry shook his head. "If you want her to mind her own business, all you have to do is ask."

_Thanks for asking me first._

"No, it's all right. She probably should hear this as well."

Harry nodded and waited. He recognized this was probably the best chance they were going to get, since ditching Ron all the time wasn't working out.

"It was Dumbledore's idea that really got me started. If you and Ginny both have a magical -"

"Wait, how did you know about that? I just told you?"

Hermione turned a little pink and for that matter, so did Ginny. Harry knew instantly what had transpired, but it still shocked him when Hermione said it aloud.

"Ginny told me about it."

Harry blinked. _So...I guess you two are really all right?_

_I suppose, _Ginny said evasively.

"There's something she's not telling me."

If anything, Hermione turned pinker and glanced down. "Well, then that's between her and I, now isn't it?"

Harry hated being left out, but if it helped two of his best friends to get along, then he wasn't going to question it. "Okay, I'll leave it alone. What were you saying?"

"Before I was interrupted," Hermione teased, "I was saying that if you and Ginny both have a magical core, then they're probably connected. However, in ancient history it was never called that - it was always called a soul, and it was a deeply spiritual concept. Some Muggles overheard a wizard talking about it and that's where they got the idea. Anyway, with how you are bonded, it only makes sense that wherever your souls are, there's something connecting them."

Harry nodded. "But why is that important?"

Hermione groaned, as if he was missing something glaringly obvious. "Harry, what if your souls aren't simply connected? Like what Dumbledore said - what if there's a magical block between them? Or given how your connection has stages, many blocks?"

Harry took a moment to absorb that. "So...what you're saying is until we get rid of all the blocks, then this is going to keep happening?"

"I don't know, honestly. But think about it. How are your and Ginny's souls interacting? Are they adding to each other? Multiplying each other? Even feeding off of each other exponentially?"

"Whoa, slow down." Harry put his hands up. "So Ginny's soul is feeding off of mine?"

Hermione shook her head. "Perhaps feeding isn't the right word, but yes. Obviously the two of you combined is much more than one of you by yourself, like what happened with the cup. That's why you didn't die - one of those magical blocks broke, and you used the magic from your and Ginny's combined soul to heal yourself."

Harry's eyes slipped out of focus as he tried to take in all that Hermione was telling him. It was obvious she believed what she was saying, and that she'd done a great amount of research on it, but sharing a soul with Ginny? The idea was instantly comfortable in his head, and it made sense, but a small part of him still resisted, still wanted to push it away. He'd never been that close to anyone before, and he wasn't sure he was ready for it. He felt the same sort of fear in Ginny, which was nice to know since he wasn't alone.

"But...wait...then what happened when I had the overload?"

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know that either. Maybe you and Ginny have separate souls as well, and that's what overloaded. It could be that the magical blocks are keeping them separated for now, and as they come down, they will eventually merge into one."

Harry took that like a sucker punch to the gut. He knew his and Ginny's connection was personal, but he'd never really taken the word Soulmate seriously. Well, he had, but not literally. From Ginny's feelings, he could tell that she'd felt the same way, and that she was just as afraid of the implications of what Hermione had said. Harry spoke, but he was really voicing both of their thoughts at the same time.

"And then we'll be the same person?"

Hermione's eyes closed as she sighed. "I really don't know, Harry. I wish I could tell you."

------

Sleep refused to come for Harry that night. No matter which way he tossed or turned, he could not get comfortable enough to drift off, regardless of how late it got. As his watch rolled around to one in the morning, the only reason he hadn't gone insane was he felt Ginny in the same exact situation he was. Finally, he reached out to her and slipped into her mind after calling out to her.

"Ginny?"

She sat up in her bed, which was looking quite warm and cozy these days. Harry wondered when she ever found time just to sit and decorate her mind, but she obviously did and it the results were even more obvious. Somehow, she'd taken the natural dark and chilly atmosphere of the Chamber and turned it into something absurd, like Sleeping Beauty's room high in the castle waiting for Prince Charming to come rescue her. The bed itself was now crimson and gold in the exact colors Harry remembered from the common room, though nothing else was anything other than stone gray.

"You know what's silly? I have this huge, wonderful bed and I still can't fall asleep," Ginny said, wide awake. Harry paused, unsure of where to sit.

"I don't think I could sleep in this bed either, if it makes you feel any better."

Ginny giggled and moved over to leave a good three-quarters of it empty. "Well come on, don't just stand there." Harry sat down on the very edge of the bed, causing Ginny to roll her eyes. "I don't bite, you know."

"I know."

Ginny didn't say anything more; she could feel Harry's discomfort and decided to leave it alone. "I guess this is the only time we're going to get alone."

Harry nodded. "I don't want Ron to feel left out."

"You know how he would react."

"He'll get used to it."

"After he lets it slip to a few people."

Harry sighed. This was going nowhere. "By the time we tell him, we'll be the same person anyway."

"We'll never be the same person, Harry. I know that I'll never be exactly like you in some ways."

"Yeah, because you're a girl."

Ginny laughed. She felt a lot better than he did about the prospect of their souls merging - apparently whatever was keeping her up, it wasn't this. "And you're a boy, but still, we'll never be completely the same. Mum used to say that no one can take away who we are."

"I don't think your Mum knew what it was like being a Soulmate," Harry insisted, but he really didn't want to fight about it. Either it was going to happen one way or another, and there was nothing Ginny could say to make him feel any better about it right now. "So what was keeping you up?"

Ginny sighed and allowed all of her negative feelings to wash over him. How she kept them so locked down and hidden was a mystery, but he felt a huge weight of guilt suffocating him before he could separate out that it wasn't his own.

"What do you think you did?"

She shook her head, obviously in a completely different mood. However she convinced herself not to feel her guilt, it wasn't working anymore.

"I know I did it, Harry."

"Did what?"

"I wanted to kill him."

Harry blinked. "You..what?"

"Percy. When I heard you hit your head and felt like you'd died, I wanted to kill him."

Something about that just didn't register in Harry's mind. He hadn't been expecting it, and even if he had, he wasn't sure he believed it. "You were just angry."

Ginny shook her head, a lone tear running down her cheek. "No, you don't understand. You didn't feel it. I thought you were dead, and I wanted to kill Percy because he was the one who did it. I even knew which spell I was going to use - the Severing Charm. Mum uses it all the time to cut things, and I knew if I made it strong enough, I could kill him. And I wanted to. I had even started, but one of the twins stunned me before I could finish."

Harry stared at her, dumbstruck. Was she serious? Did she really mean...?

"Yes, I'm serious Harry." She sniffed and another tear rolled down her cheek. "What kind of person does that make me, that I wanted to kill my own brother? You know what the worst part is?" She sniffed again. "I don't even regret it. If he had killed you, I know I would have killed him. And I would still do it." At this point, she broke down and began crying in earnest, no longer able to form words. Harry knew he should go comfort her, tell her it was okay, but he was too shocked for any rational thought. Ginny wanted to kill Percy? Harry was angry, but he didn't want revenge. Why would she feel that way?

_Shut up and worry about Ginny! _Harry interrupted himself, before crawling over and wrapping his arms around her in a warm embrace. She clung to him and cried into his shoulder for a long time, so long that Harry eventually had to lay down and Ginny snuggled into his side. As she got comfortable, Harry began pouring as many warm, caring feelings into her as he could conjure up, hoping that she would understand that nothing would ever keep him away from her, even something like this. At some point (he couldn't remember when), his hand had started to gently rub her back, and that seemed to help, though it was still a good while before she pulled away from his shoulder. Before she could say anything, Harry spoke.

"Ginny, I don't think you're a bad person. A bad person wouldn't care about this."

She rubbed her nose into his chest as she shook her head. "But I don't care!"

"Yes you do," Harry said, oddly confident. "Maybe not about Percy, but you wonder what kind of person it makes you, and that's what you care about that."

Ginny looked up and her shocked chocolate eyes stared into his. "H-How do you know that?"

Harry would have smiled if it wasn't for the guilt, shame, and fear rushing through him from Ginny. "Because I feel the same way about Black."

Ginny sniffed. "You do?"

"I think he deserves whatever he gets for what he did. Do you think I'm a bad person?" Harry had his own ideas on this, but it wouldn't help to share them with Ginny.

"It's different," Ginny said stubbornly.

"How?"

"Because it's my _brother._"

Harry didn't even bother answering that, because both of them knew Ginny was going to lose the argument. It was one of the very rare times Harry was right, and even if Ginny wouldn't admit it aloud, they both knew they agreed.

"How do you live like this?"

"Like what?"

"Knowing you would kill someone for something?"

Harry didn't have an answer for that. "Honestly Ginny, I try not to think about it. Death has always been a part of my life."

"That's not normal, you know."

Harry shrugged, unwilling to answer.

"One day you won't have to think like this."

He remained silent and impassive as Ginny's head hit her pillow. Before he realized what was happening, she was fast asleep in his arms and there was no way he could move without waking her. Sighing softly, he pulled the blankets up over them both and shifted very gently to get comfortable, and then checked to make sure she was still asleep.

_She really is kind of cute,_ Harry thought as much needed sleep began to overtake him as well. The last image in his mind before the blackness over took him was of Ginny's deep, steady breaths as she slept peacefully against him.

* * *

_**A/N: **Okay, so I finally gave them some peace, and hopefully they've learned they can't just fight everything out. _:P_I'll take a moment to say that I now have an actual website up and running at On the homepage there I have a progress bar on the next chapter, if anyone is interested, as well as a few other things. I also have a latest chapter page where you can read a better formatted version that doesn't have a chance to randomly disappear if servers go down._

_Also, welcome to any of the SIYE refugees from their server issues. xP_

_Anyway, don't forget to tell me what you think in a review! And thanks a million to those who do - I was excited to get my 300th!_


	14. Ghosts of Fear

_**Author's Note: **It seems our beloved creator of the Harry Potter series wasn't too good with moon phases as well as math. Supposedly, the fifth of November in 1993 was a full moon, but it was actually on the thirtieth of October. I mention this as a random tidbit of information because it changes a few things in terms of plot, which I happened to be thinking about as I wrote this chapter. If you can guess something important that's already changed because I'm not bending the laws of nature, help yourself to an e-cookie. _

Also, I'd like to point out that if you haven't read Ambidextrous, Ron and Hermione's behavior in this chapter might seem a little confusing to you. It's a short oneshot and I encourage you to go read it, but if not, there's a quote at the beginning of the chapter to help you out.

Thanks a bunch to **Sinister dei,** who has turned out to be a fantastic beta.

**

* * *

**

_"No, it's not that. It's just... you've never done anything like that before."_

_"Like what?"_

_"Like... like you've cared."_

-- Hermione and Ron in Ambidextrous

**14: Ghosts of Fear**

Harry awoke the next morning curled around his pillow with his arms and legs impossibly intertwined in the blankets. He felt so warm and comfortable that he didn't feel like he could possibly muster up the strength to move, even though his head was resting on only a simple ball of blankets. He hadn't a clue how he'd gotten into such a position since he usually slept like a rock, but he wasn't going to complain.

It wasn't hard to remember the events of the night before; the memories were waiting for him as soon as his consciousness returned, but he didn't feel the apprehension that he'd expected. A quick check told him that Ginny was still fast asleep in her bed, as comfortable as he felt, so he decided to lay and wait for her to rise.

She did, perhaps fifteen minutes later, and without warning embarrassment washed over them both. Harry knew she'd felt it first, but he couldn't help but follow her in the feeling after they both remembered exactly how they'd fallen asleep last night. Harry even remembered his last thought before falling asleep, and even though he tried with all his willpower to banish it from his mind, the image of Ginny's relaxed and comfortable form lying next to him would not disappear. Eventually, they rose and prepared for breakfast, carefully staying at home in their own minds to avoid any embarrassing situations. Though they hadn't spoken a word to each other, the implications of sharing senses, especially sight, weren't lost on them.

The day itself was surprisingly normal. Harry and Ginny walked down to breakfast with Ron and Hermione, in that order. Harry noticed that Ron was talking to her (or perhaps to himself) about what he wanted for breakfast that morning, and even though she couldn't appear more bored, Hermione kept glancing at the redhead with a calculating sort of look. There was something going on between them that he was missing, but he decided to leave it alone. He and Ginny had their secret, so he could let Ron and Hermione have theirs; or rather, Hermione have hers. He suspected Ron had little to no knowledge of what went on inside of all of that bushy hair.

It wasn't until after the last class before the weekend ended that anything out of the ordinary happened. Hermione was all prepared to drag Harry and Ron into the library (something that Harry wasn't opposed to), but Ron asked Harry if he wanted to go take a few laps around the pitch before dinner. It was one of the few days Wood hadn't scheduled Quidditch practice, though Harry knew that it was more because of the early practice scheduled for the morning than actual desire to give the team a break.

_Ginny, do you mind if we go alone? _Harry asked, and then clarified. _Completely alone?_

She was immediately suspicious of his motives, but didn't detect any deception. _Why?_

Harry mentally shrugged as he followed Ron out to the pitch. _I don't know, I don't get to spend that much time with him. It's a boy thing. _He used a phrase that she often used on him - with appropriate gender changes, of course.

_I suppose. I'll go annoy Hermione while you go have your man time._

Harry groaned and rolled his eyes at her teasing, but he didn't rise to the bait. On the way out to the pitch, Ron was uncharacteristically silent, which was quite a bit more unnerving than if he'd been going on about Quidditch strategies or even ranting about how much homework he didn't want to do. At least the latter Harry could be interested in and respond to - a silent Ron was a Ron that Harry wasn't sure how to deal with.

They made it out to the pitch with Harry striking up conversation about the Cannons, who had actually won their last match, to the general surprise of the wizarding sport community. Even the worst teams got lucky occasionally, though Ron didn't appear to be as excited as Harry expected. He knew from the moment Ron didn't launch into a discussion of this statistic and that commentary that something was up, but he didn't press for answers. Despite appearances that Ron had as much subtlety as a bludger, Harry suspected that fun wasn't the primary reason Ron had suggested coming out to fly around the pitch. He hadn't forgotten that one of the two emotionally meaningful conversations that he'd had with Ron in the current year had happened in the exact same circumstances.

For the first couple minutes, they flew in silence and generally apart from each other, while Harry supposed that Ron was gathering his nerve. Harry checked again to make sure Ginny wasn't sneakily eavesdropping (he wouldn't put it past her), but whatever she and Hermione were up to in the library was absorbing all of her attention. He supposed that was just as well - it was nice being almost two separate individuals for once. He made a mental note to talk to Ginny about it; maybe it would be a little easier to not get so irritated with each other if they didn't try to be in constant contact every hour of the day.

"Harry?"

He hadn't even noticed Ron pull up alongside him. Even the old school brooms' speed could match the leisurely pace that Harry had fallen to while his thoughts over took him.

"Sorry. Got a little lost for a moment." He tried to put on a sheepish expression, and judging by Ron's non-interest, he'd succeeded.

"Hermione told me to ask you about what happened."

Ron didn't need to clarify what he was talking about, and Harry thought it nice of him to get straight to the subject. Of course, that could have just been a manifestation of the aforementioned lack of subtlety on Ron's part.

Harry slowed even further so that the wind wouldn't be a hindrance to their hearing, though a moderate breeze still felt nice against his face. It was relaxing being up in the air; it seemed easier to think about everything up here.

"Long version or short version?"

Ron grimaced. "There's a long version?"

Harry chuckled. "Yeah. Short version is Ginny and I got into a fight, I yelled at her, Percy stunned me, I exploded, and Ginny got stunned too." He left out _why_ exactly Ginny had been stunned.

Ron shook his head, obviously not satisfied. "I got that much, and I know why Dumbledore thinks it happened, but what was so important? Why is everyone all worked up about it?" Ron's flight pattern wavered slightly as he stumbled over his words. "I mean...whatever it was made Fred and George _fight_."

It was becoming clear to Harry from Ginny's feelings and Ron's reaction that Fred and George fighting was a much bigger deal than he thought. He could understand that it was a big deal for them to not agree with each other - they always seemed to think on the same wavelength - but there was something more there he was missing. Something that made the idea of the twins fighting scare Ron and Ginny.

"I wish I knew," Harry finally admitted. "I really don't know what they felt, other than it was a burst of magic. There's nothing special about me."

Much to his surprise, Ron laughed. At his curious and slightly hurt expression, Ron hastily replied, "Hermione said you'd say that, and she told me to tell you to shove it up your arse. Well, maybe not in those words, but that's what she meant."

Harry briefly imagined Hermione saying the words 'shove it up your arse', and he had to smile as well. "She would, wouldn't she?"

Ron nodded. "I suppose I'll never understand, and I guess she's right about that too." For some reason, this thought seemed to disturb him greatly, though Harry hadn't a clue why.

"You know I'd explain it if I could."

Ron nodded, though he didn't respond.

"Maybe I can go fly head first into the stands and see if that helps?"

Ron chuckled. "Hermione would kill you, if there was anything left after Ginny found out."

Harry wondered why the conversation kept floating toward Ginny and Hermione, when they weren't even present. Harry remembered what had transpired the night before, and after a lazy roll on his broom, asked Ron about it.

"So what was Hermione grilling you about last night?"

Much to his surprise, Ron's ears turned bright pink. "It's nothing."

Harry highly doubted that, and his glare said as much.

"Alright, it was something, but you can't tell Ginny about this."

Harry nodded. He was glad he'd told her to mind her own business beforehand, or he'd probably be waging war instead of being able to listen to Ron.

"Do you...think that I care about Hermione?"

Harry blinked. And then again. Talk about a bludger from across the pitch; he hadn't seen that one coming. It took a moment for the shock of the question to wear off - something serious must have happened to prompt such a serious question. It was extremely out of character, to say the least. Harry almost laughed it off, but he knew Ron had a very hard time expressing himself and that it would be a disaster if he ignored those feelings.

"Why wouldn't you? I mean, aren't you best friends?"

Ron didn't answer right away. Instead, he peeled off from Harry to fly between the hoops at one end of the pitch, only rejoining after performing a moderately successful Sloth Grip Roll. Harry wondered how much time the redhead spent out here on the pitch, flying, and was distressed to realize that he hadn't a clue.

"She thinks I hate her."

Harry nearly fell off his broom. "What?!" And then after the statement processed, "Why?!"

Ron shrugged, as if it was no big deal. "Apparently I haven't done anything that makes her think I care about her. I mean, I really haven't I suppose, but I at least thought we were friends."

Harry mind spun. As much as he was glad Ginny could mind her own business, he really would have appreciated her insight. "Back up. When did she tell you this?"

"It isn't important, really." Ron made to go to the ground, but Harry used the better acceleration of his Nimbus to get in front of him.

"Of course it is! You're best friends!"

The deadened look in Ron's eyes was painful. "Apparently not." He swerved around Harry and refused to say any more, despite Harry's attempts to block him from getting to the ground. If it wasn't for Ron's size advantage, Harry might have considered trying to pin him to the ground.

"Ron, you're important to us, and to her. Why are you being like this?"

"Drop it Harry."

Harry opened his mouth, but Ron's glare shut it again.

"I said drop it."

There was obviously no choice but to leave it alone, but Harry walked beside his friend defiantly. He wondered what Ron would do if he refused to speak to him until the older boy explained, but then he realized that would hardly help the problem. Obviously, he already thought that Hermione hated him, and if Harry was to ignore him, he wasn't sure what Ron might do. He knew Ron had always had problems with insecurity, but he hadn't known it was this bad. An idea struck him, one that went against everything that Ron had said in the last five minutes.

"But you and Hermione haven't been fighting... I thought you were working things out?"

Ron let out a laugh that could have been a sigh, depending on who heard it. "Maybe we should go back to that."

"Why?" Now Harry was really confused.

"Not everyone can be the perfect friend like you can, Harry."

That sparked irritation within Harry. "You think I'm perfect?"

Ron's mouth opened, prepared to retort, but he closed it again and shook his head without a sound. Again, Harry was confronted by silent Ron, and infinitely more discouraging sight than an angry Ron. At least when Ron was angry, he tended to say (or scream) exactly what was on his mind. With nothing else to do, Harry sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets and walked alongside his best mate, deeply worried. Something was going on inside Ron's head, something likely wrong and self-deprecating, but Harry couldn't for the life of him figure out what.

"Oh, and Harry?" Ron said as they approached the Fat Lady. "Don't mention this to Hermione either."

That was in fact exactly what Harry wanted to do, and had planned on doing, but he wouldn't betray Ron's confidence like that. It wasn't often Ron opened up to anyone, and Harry was glad that he was able to be there, even if he hadn't a clue how to help.

"Ron?" Harry said as the Fat Lady swung open. "You're wrong."

------

Dinner was a cheerful affair, especially with people like the Gryffindor Chasers around. Even if Harry didn't speak much to them directly (they had their own friends, obviously), their insistence that he sit somewhat near them made it almost impossible not to get infected with their laughter. Harry understood that it was all a part of including him and making him feel welcome, but it was really unnerving to be sitting next to Angelina, a girl two years his senior and obviously different in so many ways. Ginny, of course, found the entire situation and Harry's slight discomfort extremely amusing, once she'd gotten over the way the three chasers had welcomed Harry so warmly. Harry did feel that Ginny was having a conversation with herself, most likely trying to calm her irrational jealousy that had been cropping up. The bond was likely only inspiring her natural feelings, so Harry was content to let her fight her own battle since there wasn't much he could do besides give her a smile and a mental nudge.

Ron appeared to be fine, something that only worried Harry because he knew the redhead wasn't. Even Hermione didn't seem to notice anything amiss, even smiling and laughing at a few things that Ron said, oddly enough, in response to one of the Gryffindors in a higher year. Ginny was quick to pick up on Harry's confusion, but all it took was a slight shake of the head to her raised eyebrow and she didn't question him.

Harry spotted the Weasley twins at the other end of the table, sitting together and eating, though it didn't look like they were particularly happy. They didn't appear to be angry with each other - they occasionally spoke to one and other and smiled - but it wasn't like them to not be at the center of some conversation. Harry resolved to talk to them after the meal and make sure he hadn't done anything wrong, since he'd been the source of their argument in the first place.

A wave of anger surprised him, causing him to follow Ginny's eyes to Percy, who was sitting with the Ravenclaws, no doubt with his girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater. Harry nudged her with his shoulder to draw her attention away, which earned a sheepish expression and caused her to hide her face behind a goblet. He gave her a playful nudge with his mind, to which she pushed back, which developed into a mental staring contest. Harry became so focused on his mental push and shove with Ginny in an attempt to make her smile that he jumped when a hand came down on his shoulder.

"I didn't mean to scare you - bad time?" Lupin asked.

Harry shook his head. "Not at all Professor." He noticed that some of the other Gryffindors' ears had perked up with interest.

"I was wondering if we could have a chat in my office tomorrow, say around six? Nothing too serious of course, though we may run into a boggart or two in the cupboards."

Lupin's smile was genuine, and Harry had to admire his subtlety. "Sure, Professor."

Lupin slipped away and out of the Great Hall, and as Harry turned back around, he was met by curious looks from more than a few people.

"What was that all about?" Katie asked.

Harry shrugged. "He knew my parents." It was a really awful deception, but a necessary one and one that nobody was willing to call. Harry thought he noticed a strange light in Alicia's eye, but he must have imagined it because the next second she was laughing at something one of the Gryffindor sixth years had said. One look at Hermione told him that she didn't believe him for one bit, but she had enough sense not to ask about it with a tableful of ears around.

As it turned out, Harry got a chance to talk to the twins much earlier than he anticipated. Alicia, Katie, and Angelina left dinner early for a "Chaser's Practice", whatever that meant. Harry got the impression that it involved a lot more of what Ginny referred to as girl time than actual Quidditch, but they did head out toward the field with a quaffle. As a result, Harry found himself walking with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny back up to the common room when he noticed the twins following them. Rather than give them a chance to find a corner in the common room, Harry dropped back and walked on their right side after realizing that waiting wasn't really going to gain him anything. Besides that, he needed to ask them something that had been bothering him for a week now.

"So where'd you learn to perform a Memory Charm?"

Both of the twins nearly stumbled over the next step, only keeping their balance with some quick footwork.

"Merlin, Harry, you really do know how to drop a question on a bloke, don't you?" Fred asked.

Harry raised his eyebrows, waiting for an answer.

"Trade Secret," George said, almost as an afterthought. "Figured it couldn't be too difficult if Lockhart managed it."

Harry wasn't so sure about that - Hermione had researched all the dangers of Obliviations gone wrong once she'd been told what happened to dear Gilderoy. Rather expectedly, Harry and Ron weren't terribly interested in knowing how many patients in St. Mungo's permanent insanity ward were from Obliviations gone wrong.

"So why'd you do it?"

It was the twins' turn to raise their eyebrows. "We thought that would be quite obvious."

"Yeah?" Harry prompted. It was a little unnerving to see the twins so serious, but he really wanted to know.

Fred shrugged. "We didn't think you'd want the entire bloody house remembering _that_." He said the word with such a spin that it couldn't mean anything but the events leading up to Harry's explosion. Harry wondered if they meant the explosion itself, or what he'd screamed at Ginny before. After remembering what the twins had told Angelina about him being a private person, Harry decided it was entirely possible Fred was referring to both.

"And besides," George added, "We couldn't just let the Bighead Boy lose his Bighead status."

Harry thought that one of the most surprising things he'd heard in a while. He supposed it made sense; Percy was their brother, even if he was the Head Boy and rather pompous at times. Regardless of the reason, it was possible he could lose his badge for using magic on a student.

"Sure you haven't sprung one on yourselves?" Harry ventured.

Both raised their eyebrows. "Why would you ask that?" Fred inquired.

Harry shrugged. "You've just seemed a bit off. I haven't seen a prank in a good while."

Fred and George looked at each other, traces of smiles on their faces. "I do believe we've been challenged, dear brother," George said.

"Quite right - Harrykins thinks we've lost our touch!" Fred replied.

"Do tell, Mr. Potter, on what grounds do you make such a horrid and ridiculous assumption?" Harry nearly burst out laughing from the look on George's face alone. It was everything a mad scientist should be, perhaps without the age, but the manic sort of smile and bulging eyes were spot on. Harry quickly caught onto the game.

"I suppose I've noticed a shocking decrease in pranks around the common room - surely you haven't run out of ideas?"

Both Fred and George gasped, clutching their hands over their hearts simultaneously in mock agony. "Surely you jest!" Fred cried.

"Out of ideas? Preposterous!" George exclaimed.

"You shall see, Mr. Potter!" Fred called over his shoulder was already on his way up the stairs, brushing by Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. George turned a Weasley grin on Harry before following his brother. Harry wondered if he was in his right mind, provoking the twins like that, but at least they seemed back to normal. Harry wondered if it was an act to cover their real emotions, but he quickly banished that thought. They could take care of themselves, and it wasn't up to him to make sure they were all right. He wasn't even sure why he'd worried about them in the first place. It had just seemed like the right thing to do.

------

Harry fully expected to be bombarded by some prank or another the moment he stepped into the common room, but the twins were nowhere to be found. He took this as both good and bad news; good because he was safe and didn't have to look over his shoulder, bad because they could be planning something a lot worse for a later date. Of course, in his search for Fred and George, Harry spotted Percy by the fire, studying a textbook very intently. It wasn't something he could have helped but notice - by now, any time he looked for a Weasley he searched for their trademark fiery red hair, and Percy was no different - but he still tried to keep it off his mind for Ginny's sake. He understood now why she wouldn't want to think about her older brother.

_You don't have to tiptoe around it._

Harry sighed. He should have known better than to think she wouldn't notice. _I just don't want you to have to think about it._

Ginny snorted. _As if that'll ever happen._

_You know he was just trying to protect you. For good reason too._

He felt her resisting the urge to roll her eyes. _As if you would have hurt me._

Harry didn't respond to that, mostly because she was right, given what she meant. Her definition of hurt and her brothers' was completely different - as long as she stayed out of the hospital wing, she would never admit she was "hurt" in a physical sense.

In any case, the subject was dropped after that and both that night and the next day slipped away before anyone really noticed. Harry had Quidditch practice, so of course that meant Ron and Ginny were out in the stands watching for the long hours of Saturday morning that Wood insisted upon using to drag his team through the mud, so to speak.

Perhaps it was the dementor lessons that Harry and Ginny were dreading so much that made the day pass by so quickly, but for whatever reason they found themselves standing outside of Lupin's office at six that evening, each wondering if the other was going to knock on the door. Finally, Harry reached out and rapped twice on the wood, and stepped inside after it swung open of its own accord.

"I'm glad you could make it Harry, and Ginny." Lupin's eyes flicked toward the redhead, but his smile remained genuine. Harry led the way into the room and took one of the seats that Lupin offered - the professor obviously intended to talk to them before heading off to track down a boggart. Harry noticed that Ginny was feeling a bit uneasy, so he reached out and nudged her with a bit of confidence that he wasn't feeling himself. The dementors were the last thing he wanted to face right now, since he finally seemed to be recovered from his accident, but he wasn't about to turn down a lesson. The dementors certainly wouldn't wait for him to recover before attacking him, should he run into one.

"I see you've recovered nicely from your accident," Lupin said casually to start the conversation.

"Well enough to face a dementor, anyway," Harry said, hoping that would push the lesson in the direction he wanted it to go. He wasn't sure he wanted to talk about anything that Lupin might bring up.

"We can always wait if you're not feeling well," the professor offered, sounding very much like he wanted Harry to take the option. However, waiting didn't seem like it would make things any better, so Harry shook his head.

"I'm ready."

Lupin hesitated, as if he wanted to talk about something, and then led the way to the History of Magic classroom in silence. Harry got the impression that the older man had a lot on his mind, possibly too much for one man to handle, but the thought was pushed aside as a rattling cabinet got his attention. It was a familiar setting that caused shivers down both his and Ginny's spines simultaneously.

"Are you both sure you're ready for this?"

They drew their wands and nodded in unison with a stubbornness that outweighed their fear. Lupin's wand flicked, causing the lock on the cabinet to click and the boggart to be released. It appeared, as expected, in the form of a dementor.

"_Expecto Patronum!" _Harry cried, but his was the only voice. A tiny silver wisp floated out of his wand, but it instantly disappeared into nothingness as his attention shifted to Ginny. She felt like ice, and her skin had paled into something ghostly as she dropped her wand and fell to her knees, whispering incoherently. The voices were upon him before he could react, and Harry's vision blurred into a memory.

_"No__.. Please...you can't die! YOU CAN'T, YOU HEAR ME?!" A tiny girl's voice screamed in vain – Harry felt his arms – no, hers – shake the lifeless form in front of her. Her face buried into his raven black hair, and something flashed –_

_"It's him! Take Harry and go!" Lights flashed, a baby screamed as his mother scooped him off the floor, and a door blew inward._

_"Peter – you BASTARD!"_

"HARRY!"

Something cold smacked his face, waking him from his nightmare. He opened his eyes, but for a moment, everything remained black. Slowly, his vision returned as he realized he was shaking violently. Without another thought, he reached for Ginny and found her next to him, in apparent convulsions. As his hand gripped her shoulder, he bashed Lupin's arm out of the way to crawl over to her.

_Ginny, wake up, it's only a dream._ He didn't have the strength to say the words aloud or even reach over her, so he simply wrapped an arm around her. _I'm not going to die. _He squeezed tighter, as if by force alone he could stop her from shaking. He knew he wasn't in much better condition than she was, but that didn't matter – he could be taken care of later. He continued to mind-whisper reassurances until her soft moaning ceased and her body became relatively still. Another minute passed before Harry felt her regain complete control of her body, at which point he pulled back and allowed her to turn to face him. Her hand reached out and pressed against his chest, feeling him as if unsure of what she would find.

_You're not dead,_ she whispered, without confidence.

_I'm right here._

Her hand pressed harder, as if trying to prove he was lying. She blinked and stared at him, though she refused to meet his eyes.

_You're really not dead?_

_I'm not dead, Ginny._ The words cut into him to say, as if even thinking about it gave death a handle in his mind, but he forced them out. Ginny's hand suddenly slid around him as she curled into him, not in an embrace, but more in an attempt to bury herself in the space between him and the floor. Harry wrapped an arm around her, not sure of what else to do but wait. A long few moments passed before Lupin cleared his throat, and Harry remembered that they weren't alone. He turned his head up to look for the professor without moving his body – the last thing Ginny needed right now was to be left alone in any sense. He could feel her inside his mind, clinging to his mind-self as well. His eyes, however, were focused on Lupin, who looked almost afraid.

"Are you all right?" The professor finally asked.

Harry wasn't sure how to answer that question. No, he and Ginny weren't all right, Ginny especially so. They would be, and they would have to be for another go at the dementor, but he couldn't see it at the moment. Ginny's body had tightened up as she clung to him, in the same exact position in his mind as well as in the physical world.

"Yeah," Harry forced out, weakly. "Just give us a minute."

"Take all the time you need. I destroyed the boggart, so there's nothing to worry about."

"But..." Harry blinked. "Then how are we going to practice?"

Lupin's lips parted slightly as his jaw dropped, his eyebrows raised over widened eyes. "You _want_ to keep going?"

Harry nodded slowly. "We have to learn to fight it."

The Defense professor shook his head. "I'm sorry, Harry, but I can't allow you to put yourself in danger like that. I had my reservations before, and I should have listened to them."

Part of him wanted to fight, wanted to argue, but Ginny weighed him down and he turned his attention back to her. His feelings softened to console her, hoping to comfort her and draw her out of whatever was bothering her. After a minute of silence, Harry let his forehead fall against the top of her head.

_Do you want to talk about it?_

It took a few seconds for her to respond, but she slowly moved her head from side to side. _Nothing to talk about._

Nothing that she would talk about at the moment, anyway. In response, he slowly pushed himself up off the floor and brushed off his robes before holding out a hand to Ginny. She didn't have much choice but to accept it, and he pulled her up onto her feet. She was able to stand under her own power, but it was a near thing. Harry kept one eye on her just in case she started to fall.

"If you don't mind me asking, did either of your visions change between now and the last time you faced the boggart?" Lupin inquired.

Harry shook his head, but Ginny remained absolutely still. Her eyes wouldn't leave Harry's face, and she stared without blinking, almost as if lost in space. Harry knew that wasn't far from the truth – she was still clinging tightly to him in his mind – but Lupin would have no way of knowing that. He nudged her mentally, causing her to jump toward him, but she caught herself before clinging to him again.

"I...I'm sorry professor, what did you ask?" Her voice was shaky, mirroring her hands.

"Was your vision any different than last time?" Lupin's voice was soft and kind, exactly how Harry might have spoken to her, and the younger man appreciated the effort. Even now, Harry's admiration for Lupin was growing.

Ginny simply nodded and didn't offer anything more. Lupin glanced at Harry, who shook his head slightly, warning him off. Ginny was trying to forget the entire thing, but her worst nightmare had come back to haunt her and it hadn't felt any less real this time around.

"I have a bar of Honeydukes' chocolate in my office, if you'd like. It'll help you feel better."

Ginny mind-self relaxed her hold and laid her cheek against his chest in a posture of submissiveness. Harry took the hint and nodded at Lupin.

"If you don't mind sharing."

Lupin cracked a smile and led the pair back to his office, keeping his eyes forward the whole way, as if giving the two of them some privacy. Harry silently thanked him, as he was able to hold Ginny's hand the entire way without feeling uncomfortable or under watch. Her face turned toward him once with the beginnings of a grateful smile, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come.

The bar of chocolate was broken in half, one each to Harry and Ginny, but Harry immediately turned and broke his in half and gave one piece to Ginny. She tried to muster up the strength to be insulted, but he simply held it until she finally caved and took it. He knew Lupin had to notice, but like a lot of other things, the professor simply turned a blind eye and didn't ask. Someday, Harry wondered if there would be a way to thank him.

"I would send you to the hospital wing, Ginny, but something tells me I wouldn't be doing you a favor. Is there anything you'd like to talk to me about instead?"

She paused, and then slowly shook her head. "No, professor."

_Do you mind if I ask him something? It's not about you,_ Harry whispered.

_You don't have to ask me before you do anything._

_I know, but I just wanted to make sure you didn't want to leave._

_I'll be all right._

Though she was far from all right, Harry's curiosity got the better of him. "Professor? You knew my mum and dad well, right?"

Lupin nodded. "Lily and James were among my best friends."

"Who was Peter?"

The old professor's eyebrows rose. "Where did you hear that name?"

"My dad. He was there." Harry didn't have to explain where "there" was, apparently, because Lupin's face paled.

"Are you sure?"

Harry nodded. "My dad was really angry at him. I've never remembered that much before – it was like the nightmare was worse, or something." Well, not or something – he knew Ginny's terror had affected him deeply.

"He was? What did he say?" Regardless of the current situation, Lupin's voice took on a desperate tone. Harry wondered what that could possibly mean, but whatever had happened, it made no more sense to Lupin than to him. With great difficulty, he recalled the short, plump, and frightened looking man that had been hiding behind Voldemort when the door crashed down. The memory returned with disturbing clarity.

"It was right after he told my Mum to run – I don't think he saw anyone but Voldemort before then." Harry felt Ginny's arms wrap around his waist, but he tried not to think about it as he moved on. "It was clearer than I've ever remembered it. He said, _'Peter – you bastard!'_" Upon remembering what his father's face looked like, Harry wondered if he looked like that when he was angry as well. No wonder people were afraid of him last year.

"That's all he said?"

Harry nodded.

"You're sure?"

"Yes, professor, but why does it matter?"

Lupin shook his head and put his forehead in his palm. "Because, Harry, it could change a lot of things I've taken for fact when I shouldn't have. I think you and Ginny should get back up to Gryffindor Tower before it gets too late. I want you to get a full night's sleep."

Harry realized it would do no good to argue, so he nodded and led Ginny back to the Tower. Before they got there, however, he pulled her into a side passageway that wasn't frequented by the general student body and leaned her up against the wall.

"Are you ready to go back in there?"

Ginny shook her head and sighed. _No, but I have to._

_We can stay out here until you're ready._

She shook her head again and for the first time, mustered up the willpower to move toward the Fat Lady on her own. _I can't just hide out here. I'll just go up to my room and get some sleep._

_Are you sure?_

_I'm sure Harry,_ Ginny said as they approached the Fat Lady. Harry gave the password and Ginny climbed through the portrait hole, almost ignoring him as she walked with her head down toward the girls' staircase. He didn't take it personally – he knew she needed time alone to sort things out, and she was still right by his side in his mind.

Slowly, Harry dragged himself over to where Ron and Hermione were sitting and enjoying a nice game of chess, although enjoying might be too strong of a word. Ron looked rather downcast, and Hermione looked more frustrated than losing to Ron usually made her. All three of them looking depressed would have made a funny picture if it wasn't so, well, depressing.

"What was that all about?" Hermione asked, without looking up from the board.

Harry shrugged. "Nothing, she was just tired."

"Mhmm," She replied, before making a move. "That wouldn't have anything to do with dementors for any reason, would it?"

He didn't answer; there really wasn't any point in it. Hermione was going to say what she wanted whether he said yes or no, so he decided not to waste his breath.

"Do you know how much damage you could cause to _both_ of your minds? Really, I don't know what Professor Lupin is thinking, letting you face dementors at such a young age."

Harry sighed. "If it makes you feel any better, we won't be going back."

Hermione looked up, surprised. "You've learned to stop them?"

He laughed painfully. "No, just the opposite. I'm so helpless there's no point in trying. Even Lupin agrees."

"He said that?"

"Basically."

The conversation lulled as Hermione contemplated her next move. It was obviously a hopeless case, but Harry knew she wouldn't ever give up something she started, even if it was a lost cause. His eyes wandered over to Ron, who had been silent the entire time. It looked as though he was in an intense line of thinking about the match, but Harry wondered if it wasn't something else.

Hermione made her move, but didn't continue their conversation, which Harry took as an opening. "What's got you two so depressed?"

"Nothing," they replied in unison, without the faintest trace of embarrassment. Okay, maybe the faintest trace of pink appeared on Hermione's cheeks and Ron's ears, but only Harry would have been able to spot it.

"Sure," Harry finally replied. He wasn't going to press them if they didn't want to talk about it; he certainly wouldn't appreciate it if Ron pressed him about his and Ginny's relationship.

Some few minutes later, while Hermione was pulling off a near miracle by not losing in the first twenty moves to Ron, Harry noticed Percy all alone in a corner, working on what looked like homework. Ginny was already fast asleep, so Harry stood and walked over to the Prefect.

"Mind if I have a seat?"

"I'm kind of –" Percy's eyes bulged when he saw who was asking the question. "Harry?"

Harry shrugged. "I'll come back later if you're busy."

The Prefect blinked. "No, do sit down, if you'd like. I didn't expect you'd want to talk to me."

Harry took the offered seat and kept his eyes away from the books; he didn't want to appear nosy. "I just wanted to make sure you know I'm not angry or anything about what happened."

It took a long moment for Percy to process this. "You aren't?"

"No. You were just doing what you thought was right. I know Ginny doesn't see it that way, but she'll come around." _And if she doesn't, I'll make her see what I do._ The thought of making Ginny do anything sickened him, but he wasn't going to be the reason for a rift within the Weasley family.

"I...er...thank you." Percy mumbled. "That means a lot, it really does."

Harry forced a smile. "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry for yelling at your sister like that. Things just got out of control."

Percy nodded, confidently. "I understand, Harry. I felt it, I suppose, and I knew I'd done something terrible when I did. I know what it's like to hold frustration inside until it explodes."

Harry blinked. He'd come over for a simple clearing of the air, but it was turning into something much more than that. Whatever Percy had felt, it must have made as major of an impact on him as it did everyone else. "You do?"

He saw Percy glance behind him, and after following his gaze, found Fred and George. "I'm very different than most of my family, and that's very frustrating for all involved. Sometimes I wonder if you should have been a brother to Ron instead of me."

That impacted Harry's consciousness like a sledgehammer. He hadn't a clue how to respond to that, so his mouth wound up blurting the first thing that came to mind. "Why are you telling me all this?"

Percy closed his books and made to rise. "Because, Harry, I never understood until a week ago what kind of person you are. I think it's only fair that you understand a little about me." He slung his bag over his shoulder, and gave Harry one last look. "You'll keep this to yourself?"

"Of course."

A smile worked at the corner of Percy's lips. "You're a good man." And with that cryptic statement, he headed off to the seventh year dormitories, or perhaps the Head Boy's room. Harry sat still, shocked, and even more troubled to realize that people were starting to come to him with their deepest emotions. First the girls – Alicia mostly, but even Katie and Angelina, coupled with Ron, and now Percy? What was going on here?

Whatever the answer, it eluded Harry, so he wandered up to his dormitory, definitely not ready to come up with a believable story to tell Hermione and Ron. As he crashed on his bed, he relaxed and allowed parts of Ginny's mind to fill the spaces in his, and that dragged him into a deep sleep much like her own.

------

The next couple weeks were very odd for Harry. Without the prospect of dementor lessons on the horizon (Lupin wouldn't budge on the matter), and the danger of Black receding into the shadows, things should have been settling down to what Harry assumed to be normal. Even Dumbledore's detentions ceased after one more week of talking to Harry about nothing; Ginny was of the opinion that Dumbledore was just fishing for information.

However, things weren't normal, not by a long shot. First and foremost, there was the issue of the Gryffindor chasers attempting and succeeding at getting to know him better. Being around them was awkward in that there was no life-threatening experiences (at least, on their part) driving them together, and Harry wasn't friendless like he had been on the train when he'd first met Ron and Hermione, nor pushed into the relationship like he had been with Ginny. In both cases (Ron and Hermione, and with Ginny later), he was exceedingly happy with the results, but this was different – he was socializing with Alicia, Angelina, and Katie because he _wanted_ to. That was a strange feeling for him, and he often wondered if he was picking up personality traits from Ginny. Certainly, he'd never felt the impulse to try and make new friends in his first two years at Hogwarts; otherwise, he might have gotten to know Ginny and kept her from writing in the diary so much.

Another odd thing was Ron and Hermione's relationship. For the first time since they'd met, Harry really got the feeling that they weren't on good terms with each other, and weren't going to work it out any time in the near future. They were amiable enough, but there were the dark and/or sneaky looks at each other, and exasperation for no reason Harry could discern. Ginny had picked up on his concern almost immediately, but she'd told him not to worry about it and some things were better left to work themselves out. This was usually the case with Ron and Hermione, but something was different this time. They weren't fighting, and that seemed to be having a negative effect on their relationship. Percy might have put it best – _"...I know what it's like to hold frustration inside until it explodes."_ He'd considered mentioning as much to Ron, but there never seemed to be a good time to talk to his best mate.

The last Hogsmeade weekend of the school year brought about some stir to the general populace, but Harry and Ginny couldn't care less, and by the looks of it, neither could Ron and Hermione. Harry wondered if the two would survive a day alone together, but Ginny had pointed out that they weren't being hostile, and there shouldn't be any reason for them to be. She'd simply smiled and suggested that some time together might do them some good, and left Harry feeling like she knew something he didn't.

The only reason the third weekend in December was any different for Harry came by way of Professor Lupin. Upon passing out an essay they had written on hinkypunks, Harry didn't receive his back and was asked to stay after class for a moment. Both Ron and Hermione looked at him curiously, but he didn't have any more of an answer than they did. He hoped that Lupin had decided to pick up dementor lessons, but that was highly unlikely after putting up such a resistance the last time Harry had nearly begged him to let him go on alone. Ginny hadn't liked the idea of being left out, but he'd pointed out that she probably wouldn't have gone back anyway after what had happened.

"Thanks for staying a moment – I just have a quick question." Harry watched as the professor's eyes darted around the room. Apparently he was satisfied with whatever he saw, because he continued. "I know you aren't allowed to attend Hogsmeade weekends this year, and I was wondering if you'd like to join me for a cup of tea while the others are in the village. Miss Weasley would be welcome to join us."

Harry blinked at the offer, and wondered why Lupin would explicitly mention Ginny. He shrugged and stalled for a moment to ponder out the motive behind the offer, but he arrived at nothing. "Should I bring a wand?" It was a shot in the dark at best, but he couldn't help it.

Lupin chuckled. "No, nothing of the sort. I just thought you might like the company."

_Or maybe he wants the company, _Ginny offered. Harry felt a stab of irritation at her for eavesdropping, which was followed by an apologetic feeling from her. It was a genuine emotion, but it didn't change the fact that she was probably right.

"Then I'd like that Professor." And after a flash of feeling, "I'm sure Ginny will too, if you don't mind."

"Of course not." The professor smiled. "I'll be in my office finalizing your marks for the term, so just pop in whenever is convenient."

_He doesn't look like he's feeling well_ Ginny remarked as Harry left. He had to agree – it was almost like something had aged the professor a few years since the school year had started. Harry wondered if Lupin had some kind of health condition; the professor seemed to be ill quite a bit for just picking something up.

------

With Lupin's appointment to think about, Harry was almost surprised when Professor McGonagall came around to take names for the people who would be staying at Hogwarts. Harry waited for his turn to come, but his Head of House didn't even look in his direction. In fact, she didn't spare a glance for Ron, Ginny, or Hermione either. After she'd gone, Harry turned toward Hermione, an inquisitive look on his face.

"We didn't want to tell you until we knew for sure, but Dumbledore said it would be all right for you to go back to the Burrow for Christmas."

Harry was too shocked to be irritated at anyone for not telling him, as was Ginny, since apparently she'd been left out too. Grinning broadly, Harry raised an eyebrow at Ron, who shrugged and cocked his head in Hermione's direction, causing both his and Ginny's eyes to fix on the rapidly flushing witch.

"I'm sorry, okay?"

Both Harry and Ginny laughed in unison, and even Ron managed a smile. "Hermione, we're not angry. Just surprised."

"Oh. Well then." For lack of anything better to say, she turned back to the book she'd been studying (another one with those Muggle book covers). He could tell Ginny was overjoyed at the news and her expression showed it, but there had to be some catch, some reason why they were going back. Why would Dumbledore let them go with Black on the loose? It didn't make any sense, unless the Burrow was somehow more protected than Hogwarts? But that was unthinkable.

"I guess McGonagall knew?" Harry asked either Ron or Hermione, whoever would answer.

"Yeah," Ron replied. "I think Dumbledore is putting a bloody honor guard around The Burrow while you're there."

"Ron, language," Hermione said tiredly. Ron didn't even glance at her, but instead looked back down at the essay he was supposed to be writing.

"So your Mum and Dad are okay with this?" Harry asked Ron, making sure his eyes were pointedly away from Ginny. He knew what she'd say about the subject; he wanted to make sure he wasn't overstepping his bounds.

"You know Mum – she'll probably fall all over herself trying to make sure you eat third helpings of everything. And Dad will love having someone around to quiz about all kinds of Muggle things."

That wasn't quite the answer he'd been hoping for, but he figured it was the best he was going to get. It's not like he had any choice in the matter, even if he got the insane idea to turn down the Weasleys' invitation.

_Harry, you know you're welcome at the Burrow any time you want to come, _Ginny said. Harry didn't respond, but he didn't have to. Ginny could feel his feelings just as well as he could. _I don't care if you don't feel like a part of the family, you're a part of me, and that's good enough._

_It's not that..._ The words fell flat as even as he began to think them. Ginny smirked humorously and went back to writing. She'd made her point and she knew it; he both liked and hated that she was right. He liked the idea of being welcome somewhere, but it still didn't feel right for reasons he couldn't explain.

------

The remaining two weeks of term passed without major incident, though studying for end of term exams forced everyone (except, perhaps, Fred and George) to put their nose in a book with most of their free time. Harry had even more to think about with Quidditch going on, and Ron and Ginny were hardly any better since they wanted to attend every one of his practices. Hermione wasn't quite so enthusiastic about it, but she attended whichever ones she could bring a book, parchment, and quill to. Honestly, Harry wasn't sure why she bothered to come at all, but he wasn't going to complain. At least she and Ron got on better when Ron was too busy arguing Quidditch with Ginny to remember his relationship with Hermione was strained.

Their relationship reached a breaking point the second to last day of term, two days before the last Hogsmeade trip. Hermione had disappeared for a few minutes, off to do something or another that Harry hadn't asked about, and when she came back, she began ruffling through papers. Ginny perked up and watched her as she did this, picking up on the confusion and frustration before he did. After a minute, she sat down and put her head in her hands and let out a huge sigh. After a mental nudge from Ginny, Harry cleared his throat.

"You all right, Hermione?"

She looked up, a little surprised. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just can't find a letter I started to my Mum and Dad."

Harry blinked. Hermione didn't misplace things, especially something as important to her as this. "Are you sure this is where you left it?"

She nodded. "Positive. I was writing it while I was reading over my notes from Runes, and my notes are right here, but the letter isn't." Another huge sigh and her face found the palms of her hands once again. While Harry wasn't inclined to disbelieve her, he wondered if she'd finally reached the limit of what she could handle and had simply forgotten something. It wasn't like her, but then again, she'd been under a lot of stress lately and had really been showing.

"I'm sure it'll turn up sometime," Ron offered from across the table where he was playing chess with Ginny. "You can always rewrite it, anyway."

"That's not the point, Ron!" Hermione snapped, and then her eyes widened Ron's head jerked up.

"Why, you think I stole it?"

Usually Harry could tell when a row between his two best friends was brewing, but this time it had come out of nowhere, and didn't seem to have a cause, or even a point.

"Well, did you?"

Ron looked more surprised than anything else. "Why would I want a letter you're sending to your Mum and Dad?"

"Because you've been spying on me!"

Harry thought this was a totally baseless accusation, but judging from the deep shade of red his best mate turned, it wasn't as wild as he thought.

"I have not!"

Harry assumed Hermione would provide proof and logic to back up her statement, but none came. Instead, the bushy-haired witch closed her eyes and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. "I'm not going to argue with you Ron, but I don't really think you stole the letter, all right?"

Ron seemed hardly consoled, but he accepted the peace offering for what it was and went back to his chess game. Harry wondered what exactly had transpired between the two, but whatever it was, it amused Ginny quite a bit. She kept a level face, but she definitely found something very funny about the whole situation. Harry debated whether to ask her about it, but then decided he didn't want to know. He had enough problems dealing with emotion without adding Ginny's thoughts to it.

"How much had you written?" He asked Hermione.

"Not much, it won't be difficult to rewrite." She was already shuffling through her back for a blank piece of parchment. "I was just writing to tell them I'm coming home for the holidays, since you're going to the Weasleys'."

Harry's forehead wrinkled. "You don't have to stay here because of me, you know."

She shrugged. "It's nothing, really. I just didn't want you to have to stay here by yourself."

Harry was touched by her concern, but he really didn't want her to worry about him. "I'm fine. You're the one who needs a vacation."

Hermione laughed harshly. "I have to get started on next term if I want to keep up."

He frowned, wishing for once she would listen to him. For someone who always seemed to know what was best for himself and Ron, she hadn't a clue when or how to look out for herself. Perhaps changing the subject would be a good start. "So you write home about me?" He waggled his eyebrows in the absurd way that only Fred and George seemed to be able to pull off, knowing full well it was a doomed attempt.

To his surprise, a blush accompanied Hermione's small smile. "Well, you are my best friend."

_Ask her if that's all she wants, _Ginny sniggered.

_Hush,_ Harry shot back, but he couldn't resist her suggestion. It was so off the wall that perhaps it would derail Hermione from her academic train of thought. "Am I _just_ a best friend?"

At that, Hermione turned bright red and looked at anything but Harry. It sounded more like a question Ginny would ask, Harry realized, but he didn't care.

"Of course not. I mean, you are amazing and all, but not in _that_ way." Her eyes suddenly shot up to meet Harry's, and she continued in a very low whisper. "Ginny, I am going to get you for this."

Ginny couldn't stop herself from laughing out loud. Ron gave her a funny look, but luckily didn't ask what she was laughing about. Harry had felt an explanation rising in her mind (even if he didn't know exactly what it was), but he was glad she wouldn't have to use it.

Harry's efforts toward Hermione didn't seem to be in vain, because when Hermione set quill to parchment, it seemed as though she was only concentrating on the letter to her parents and not trying to study while writing. He knew this was probably due to something else churning over in her mind, but he let it be. He took one look around the room before turning back to his assignment, his eyes only pausing when he saw Crookshanks on the girls' staircase. He could have sworn the cat was watching them, but he put that thought away as lunacy.

------

After the incident over the missing letter, Harry wondered if Ron and Hermione would still go to Hogsmeade together as planned. It didn't seem like something either of them was looking forward to, but they didn't even mention it as the school bundled up for a very cold winter Saturday. Harry and Ginny saw them off at breakfast in the Great Hall, after which Ginny said something about going to see her second year friends. This left Harry to wander up to the common room since he didn't particularly want to accompany her. As much as they'd both tried, the second years couldn't stop hero-worshipping Harry and see him as just another Hogwarts student. Colin Creevey was particularly bad about this, and even though Ginny insisted he was quite a likeable boy when he wasn't around, Harry just couldn't see it.

He was quite surprised to find Alicia Spinnet sitting alone in the common room, staring into the fire. He knew she was a fifth year, and sometimes the glamour of Hogsmeade had worn off by then, but he didn't imagine it happening to her. He expected that she would have gone with Katie and Angelina to do something together, but neither of those two girls were anywhere to be seen. More than anything else, curiosity motivated Harry to head over to the fire and sit down in a comfortable armchair next to her. She didn't seem to notice him, so he kept quiet and at Ginny's invitation, watched through her eyes and ears as she discussed with her friends what everyone was doing over Christmas break. She seemed to have no problem eavesdropping on his life, but there was an invisible line there that he wouldn't cross back over into hers. She'd told him on numerous occasions that she didn't mind at all, that she wouldn't want to keep anything from him, but it just didn't feel right. One time she'd even joked that it was his job to keep her from doing something stupid, but Harry had wondered later if she wasn't referring to something much more serious, like something a diary might force her to do. He'd crushed that line of thinking as fast as he could.

"Harry? What are you doing here?" Alicia finally asked. Harry glanced over at her and immediately looked down – there was something about her eyes, something that looked like pain that was hard to handle.

_Ginny? Can you ignore me for a bit?_

_I'm not going to ignore you, but you know I'll give you privacy._ She sounded perfectly happy, and Harry wondered if she'd finally gotten over her jealousy issues. _But don't do anything I wouldn't._ Well, maybe that was too much to hope for.

"I'm not allowed to go to Hogsmeade." He shrugged, really not wanting to get into it. "Shouldn't you be down there?"

She smiled with effort and looked back into the fire. "Probably. I just didn't feel like going."

Harry sensed that there was something more to that, but he didn't feel that it was his place to ask. "Did Katie and Angelina go?"

Alicia nodded. "Yeah. They wanted to stay with me, but I threatened to dropkick them from here to the village if they didn't."

Surprisingly, Harry grinned and felt amused. "I almost had to do the same thing to Ron and Hermione."

She frowned. "They don't seem to get along very well."

Harry sighed and shook his head. He didn't quite know what to think of Ron and Hermione for the moment, but he knew it wasn't as bad as what Alicia had in mind. "I think rowing is their favorite thing to do together. I know it sounds crazy, but I think they like doing it."

She laughed softly. "I suppose I can see that. Must be hard for you though."

"Not really. You just have to learn to tune them out. You're only in trouble when they start asking for your opinion."

Alicia nodded, but didn't reply. That look of pain was back in her expression, making Harry's curiosity spike once again. It was a bit morbid, in a way, but he really wanted to know what was bothering her, and more importantly, if he could help. She wasn't his best friend (Ron, Hermione, and Ginny would always be closer than everyone else), but over the past few weeks, the Gryffindor chasers had found themselves a small place in his life, and he couldn't just ignore her.

"You all right?"

"Not really." She glanced over at him, as if deciding something, and then shook her head gently. "My dad died around this time of year – Christmas always makes me think of him and Mum, even if I didn't know them."

Harry's gut tightened into knots; he knew that exact feeling. "Halloween is like that for me."

Alicia's eyebrows rose for a moment, then she understood. "I guess you would know something of what I'm feeling right now."

Harry wished he didn't, but he had to agree. "It seems like everything bad happens on Halloween for me." His parents, the troll, finding out the Chamber of Secrets had been opened, and most recently the attack on Ginny topped the list.

"I've never had anything bad happen on Christmas, but I've never really enjoyed it. Sometimes I keep expecting my dad to knock on the door or pop out of the fireplace like nothing ever happened."

That was confusing to Harry – he'd never expected that his parents would come back, even when he was living at the Dursleys' and had only the dubious explanation of a car accident attributed to their deaths. It hadn't occurred to him to question whether they were dead or not; after all, he'd never seen where they were buried. "I never expect mine to come back."

She shook her head. "I wouldn't if I were you either. It's just..." she trailed off before fixing him with a gaze until he met her eyes. "Can I tell you something that you'll promise never to repeat, ever?"

Harry could hardly look away, or even think to form a response. He was only able to nod slightly and run a frantic check to make sure Ginny wasn't sneakily eavesdropping on them.

"I don't know how my dad died, or even that he is dead. He was an Unspeakable and he 'died' while he was working. The Ministry won't tell anything to anyone, just that he died. There was a funeral and all that, but I'll never forget when I saw the Death Notice. Everything was fine until I saw the cause of death space was blank. It wasn't even that they didn't know – it was just blank."

Harry hadn't a clue what an Unspeakable was, but the rest of her confession hit him like an eighty pound bludger. He didn't know how he would handle it if he wasn't sure his parents were gone, and if their deaths had been covered up by something as big and powerful as the Ministry. He knew he'd probably be angry more than anything else.

"I-I don't know what to say. I wish I could help."

She wrestled a smile onto her face, but it appeared horribly twisted. "There's not anything you can do, Harry. I just wanted you to know."

Harry very much wanted to ask why, but he knew that wasn't the best way to respond to something of this magnitude. The problem was, he didn't know how to respond; no one had ever been as open and forward with him as Alicia had, except for Ginny. And even Ginny really hadn't had a choice, though Harry suspected that she might have been much like Alicia if he hadn't been bonded to her. In the end, he finally decided that if she was going to give him something like this, then he at least had to show that he appreciated it, and there was no better way to do that than give something back.

"I live with my aunt and uncle too," he began, fighting himself with every word. His mind screamed at him to stop, that he didn't have to do this, and it wasn't a good idea to share something that only his closest friends should know. However, his heart overpowered his mind and he continued, even as Alicia looked upon him with something akin to shock.

"They always told me my Mum and Dad had died in a car crash. I was eleven when I first found out who I am, and even that I'm a wizard. My aunt and uncle are Muggles, and they don't like magic." He took a breath, and at Alicia's enraptured look, continued even farther than he'd planned. "I knew they weren't coming back, I don't know how I did, but I did. Even after Hagrid told me how they died, I knew it. But I didn't have proof until this year." He winced, realizing that he would gladly trade his 'proof' for a protection against the dementors.

"Whenever I get near a dementor, they make me remember the night my Mum and Dad died. I have nightmares about it too, but when I get close to a dementor, it's like I'm watching it. I can hear their voices and see them. I don't know what killed them, but I saw Voldemort break down the door. My Mum tried to take me and run, but he..." Harry paused, as something lodged in his throat and he felt a tear against his cheek. "He killed my dad too fast, and she didn't have time."

Harry closed his eyes against the burn of his anguish, trying and failing to hold it together. Now that he'd gotten started, it was like going a long for a ride where his mouth and heart were acting without his brain's input. He would realize later that he'd needed to talk about it and come to an acceptance of what he saw, but at the moment his logical thoughts didn't seem to matter much. When he opened his eyes, he could see that Alicia had tears in her eyes as well, and her cheeks were flushed and damp as if she'd just dried them.

"The last thing I remember is a lot of green light," Harry added as an afterthought, mostly to keep his mind off the panic in his parents expressions when they'd realized Voldemort had found them.

"_Avada Kedavra,_" Alicia whispered, and shuddered.

"I'm sorry?"

"The Killing Curse. It's what killed your parents."

Harry didn't have to ask how – the curse explained itself. Was magic really that powerful? Could it simply wipe the life from someone without a second thought? How could anyone use such a thing? He chastised himself for the thought – of course Voldemort would use it. He probably threw around Killing Curses like it was nothing.

They sat for a long time in silence. Harry didn't know what to say, but he didn't feel he needed to say anything. He understood why she'd been staring at the fire when he'd first come in; it wasn't comforting, but it was something to watch that allowed him to reflect and accept the brutal facts of his parents' murders. He couldn't imagine what Alicia might be going through, since she didn't have anything to think about – she simply didn't know. Harry had never given much thought into being an orphan, but connecting with Alicia had sparked introspection. He didn't feel sorry for himself, or even get angry – it was just a simple fact of life that he had to live with, like many other things that happened to him, but he could still wish it had been different.

Finally, Alicia stood and exited the same way she had in the hospital wing – with a kiss to her fingertips, which she pressed to his cheek. Harry wondered why such a simple motion comforted him, but he smiled and nodded in return as she headed up the girls' staircase. He knew something life-changing had just happened in the last hour, but he refused to think about it and just let the moment overtake him. He sat there, staring into the fire long after Alicia left, lost in his own little world.


	15. Discovery

_**Author's Note:** For those of you who don't have me on author alert, there's another outtake oneshot from Hermione's point of view available from my profile. It explains a good deal about Ron and Hermione's actions, but it's not an offical part of the story if you really don't like Ron and Hermione._

_Happy Valentine's Day, hope you all enjoy my present._ :D

_Oh, and thanks to **Sinister dei** for his always brilliant beta skillz._

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**Soul Nexus 15:** **Discovery**

Harry was still staring into the fire when Ginny found him two hours later, though he wasn't staring at it so much as through it. Instead, he was lost in his own mind, also staring into space while sitting cross-legged on his bed. He was comfortable there, and he found it easier to think about things when the movement around the common room (as little of it as there was) wasn't there to distract him. He felt Ginny's proximity and knew she was watching him, but when she didn't make a move to talk to him, he let her presence fade away.

Her arrival made him think about what he was doing for the first time since entering the common room after breakfast. He supposed it could be called meditating, but it was so much more – he could literally see his thoughts before his eyes. When he'd felt Ginny come through the portrait hole, images of her from his memories had flashed before his eyes, and he could even see himself sitting in the armchair and staring at the fire. It was a very odd realization, to be sitting in front of a fire and only seeing it through someone else's eyes.

Slowly, he pulled himself out of his introspective state and blinked at Ginny, who'd taken the seat that Alicia vacated hours before. She had an interesting expression, one that was part curiosity, part worry. He shook his head and smiled, hoping she would feel that there wasn't anything wrong.

"Sorry, I guess I was a little lost in space."

"A little?" Ginny teased. "It felt like you were asleep or something. I didn't know if you'd just zoned out or if someone put a spell on you."

"No, I was just thinking." Harry realized he hadn't a clue how long it had been, so he brushed back the sleeve of his robe and checked his watch. "So what have you been doing for two hours?"

She raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"

Harry smiled sheepishly. "Honestly, no."

"Just hanging out with friends. Nothing exciting."

"More exciting than me."

Ginny giggled. "Tell me about it. I checked on you a couple times and I thought you'd gone back to bed."

"You were checking on me?"

She cocked her head. "Is that such a bad thing?"

Harry immediately wished he hadn't asked. "No, I'm just surprised."

"Why would you be?"

This was something that he really didn't want to get into because there wasn't any way it could come out well. "I just thought you'd be busy, you know?"

"Just because you don't do it doesn't mean I don't. I like to know you're all right." She sounded very defensive, something Harry knew it was his job to take care of. There wasn't any reason she should be defensive around him, but something he'd said or done made her feel that way. The challenge was figuring out what.

"Ginny, I said I don't mind. You don't need to be defensive about it. I just wish you wouldn't make me guess at what I'm supposed to say."

She looked down and sighed. "Well, when you tell me to go away, I guess it just feels like you don't want me around."

Harry wasn't sure how to respond to that, because under no circumstances would he have wanted Ginny to hear his and Alicia's conversation, and not just because he was supposed to keep something to himself. He also wasn't sure if he could deal with Ginny trying to make things better for him. For the few minutes they'd talked, Alicia had been a great listener without trying to make everything better all by herself. The older Gryffindor felt a lot of the same things he did, and as much as Ginny could feel his feelings, it wasn't her parents that had been murdered.

Of course, he wouldn't tell Ginny that. "It's not that I don't want you around, it's just I'm not supposed to share some things she told me."

"Even with me?"

Harry paused for only a fraction of a second. "Even you, Ginny." He hated the feeling of hurt that came from her, but he could find no other way around it. He truly felt that what Alicia had told him needed to stay with him, even if he knew Ginny wouldn't tell anyone. It wasn't a question of her secret getting out – Harry trusted Ginny almost more than he trusted himself – but it wasn't his information to share. He respected Alicia a lot, and if she didn't want anyone to know, he wouldn't be the one to tell.

"You really feel strongly about this," Ginny said. She didn't feel angry though, like Harry expected. She sounded curious.

"It was a very personal conversation."

Ginny, much to his surprise, smiled. "All right, I won't bother you about it. I think I've realized you're right."

Harry blinked. "Really?"

"Really. You're an amazing friend, and I suppose I shouldn't expect anything less. I just have to deal with it when it's not me you're protecting."

That was so much easier than fighting about it. He'd expected her to tell him that he should trust her and that there shouldn't be anything secret between them, but she hadn't. Perhaps he'd expected that because he'd been thinking nearly the same thing, that if they were so close together, keeping things from each other would never work out in the end. Instead of trying to puzzle through it, he put the thoughts out of his mind and forced a smile for appearances' sake, even if Ginny could see right through it.

"So what are you up to now?" He was curious at the lack of her group of friends that she'd been with earlier.

"We should probably go see Professor Lupin, seeing as you told him you'd be coming by." A smile quirked at the corner of her mouth; she knew he'd forgotten all about it, and even her emotions were teasing him. He rolled his eyes, stood, and then stretched to work the stiffness out of his muscles. He did want to go talk to the old professor, though he wasn't sure if he was going to like what they would be talking about. Something about how their last meeting had ended didn't feel right, and Harry had never gotten his answer about who this mysterious Peter was.

"How am I supposed to get your Christmas present?" Harry suddenly asked, when they were about halfway to Lupin's office. The thought had just occurred to him after realizing it would be next to impossible to hide what he was getting if she really wanted to know.

"Not my problem," Ginny said in a teasing voice. "I've already got yours."

"You have?"

"Yep." She grinned and nudged him with her shoulder. "I've had it for a while now. I thought you would be able to figure out _something_." Harry knew she expected nothing of the sort; in fact, she'd probably looked forward to teasing him about it.

"Yeah, well, I'll figure it out." Harry said stubbornly. Ginny giggled as they approached Lupin's office; at least she was feeling better. They knocked, pushed the door open, and were greeted by an almost cheery looking professor. Harry wondered what had him in such a good mood, since grading papers and recording marks for end of term couldn't have been that much fun.

"Hello Harry, Ginny." Lupin smiled and finished marking his current sheet of parchment. "Sorry about the clutter – I'm afraid it couldn't be helped."

"Oh, it's no problem, professor," Ginny said, causing Lupin to glance at her.

"Feeling better?"

She nodded. "Yes, thank you."

Lupin waved his wand and conjured two chairs for them, which he offered with a gesture. "Perhaps some tea?"

Harry glanced at Ginny, who shook her head. "No thanks, professor."

The older man found a place for the paper he was grading and stuck it into the middle of a pile, though it looked like he was stalling for time more than anything else. "I suppose I never answered your question about Peter."

Harry shook his head, but didn't say anything. Whatever had distracted Lupin had obviously been more important.

"During our school days, James, Sirius, Peter, and I were best friends. Yes, the same Sirius Black that's broken out of Azkaban now. McGonagall would be able to tell you many stories of our time here. James and Sirius were the class clowns, I guess you could call them, much like your twin brothers are now." Lupin smiled faintly and nodded at Ginny. "I was the studious type, not much for socializing, but James and Sirius insisted on being friends, so I tagged along for the ride. No matter what anyone tells you, Harry, your father was a good man with a kind heart. A bit rough around the edges when he was younger, I'll admit, but Lily wouldn't have even looked twice at him if he wasn't the person he was."

So Peter had been one of his father's friends at school – but then why would Peter have been at his parents' house the night they were murdered? And even more than that, he'd looked like he was in cahoots with Voldemort. Could Black _and_ Peter have betrayed his parents?

"I think Peter held your father's sympathy, more than anything. I never did find out why James allowed him to hang around, but something serious must have happened between him and Peter. Sirius only put up with him because he was very sneaky and could do a great many things without being caught. In my earlier years at Hogwarts, I wondered sometimes if Sirius only put up with me because I helped him with his homework." The idea must have been humorous, because Lupin chuckled. Harry had his answer – Peter had been one of his dad's friends at school – but he couldn't resist asking the obvious question.

"But why was Peter with Voldemort when he killed my parents?"

Lupin's face clouded over. "I can only guess at what might have happened, and I don't want to tell you anything I don't know as fact."

Harry wasn't going to protest (even though he wanted to), but apparently Ginny didn't feel the same way. "I think Harry deserves to know everything about his parents' murders." Her voice wasn't cold, but there was a definite chill in the air after her quite intentional word choice. Lupin stared at Ginny for a moment, and then looked away from her gaze. Harry knew winning a staring contest with an irritated or angry Ginny was next to impossible.

"Do you really want to know, Harry?" Lupin carefully directed the question at Harry and away from Ginny.

"Peter was on Voldemort's side, wasn't he?"

Lupin blinked, a little surprised, then nodded. "We suspected that there was a spy that was close to us; Voldemort knew a lot of things about our side in the war that he shouldn't have. There were certain reasons why I wouldn't have been let in on the plan to draw him or her out, but it wouldn't have surprised me if Lily and James laid a trap and Sirius caught them in it." Lupin's face darkened for a moment at the mention of his old schoolmate.

Ginny suddenly sat straight up and Harry felt a rush of adrenaline from her. It wasn't excitement, exactly, but something had started her thinking. "Professor? Were you there when Harry's Mum cast the Fidelius Charm?"

Lupin's eyes widened in surprise as he shook his head to clear whatever thoughts had entered it. "How do you know about that?"

"Dumbledore told Harry," Ginny explained, still clearly waiting for an answer.

"Dumbledore told..." He shifted uncomfortably under the look Ginny was giving him. "No, I wasn't."

"Then they could have changed Secret Keepers!"

"What?" Harry and Lupin both asked in unison. This was too twisted for even Harry to follow Ginny's thought process – it was almost like having Hermione sitting next to him.

"Dumbledore didn't cast the Charm, Harry's Mum did. They did it without telling him, so the Secret Keeper could have been anyone. Maybe they switched to Peter, because then the spy would give up Black and they would know who he was, but Black wouldn't be able to tell Voldemort where Harry was!"

Harry didn't quite follow, but apparently Lupin did. There was a ghost of a smile on his lips as he responded. "That sounds exactly like something Sirius would have done. He would have rather died than betrayed James and Lily. At least I thought."

"And that would explain why they didn't tell anyone – only Harry's parents, Black, and Peter knew."

Lupin's eyes lit up. "And why Sirius went after Peter that night."

Harry tried to take in everything – it was like watching two people with a lot more brains than him talk and only being able to understand every other word. "Sirius went after Peter?"

"Right after he found out your parents had died." Lupin's eyes glanced at Ginny. "Up until now we thought he'd gone mad and he'd killed all those Muggles just to get Peter, but now I'm not so sure."

Ginny seemed to accept this explanation, so Harry figured he'd just ask her about it later if he couldn't figure everything out. However, after a few moments, she felt confused again.

"But if Black wasn't mad, then why did he kill all those people?"

Lupin frowned. "Miss Weasley, sometimes you're too perceptive for your own good. I'm not sure of the answer to that question, and I can't share my hypotheses until I am."

She seemed really unhappy with that answer, but she could also tell when arguing wasn't going to get her anywhere. Harry didn't really notice though, because his thoughts were only just now catching up to the conversation.

A weird silence followed after that, one that none of the three was really sure how to break after suddenly reversing twelve years of thinking on the Black case. For the first time since Dumbledore had told him the entire story of his parents' demise, Harry was having second thoughts about Black. Could it be possible that he didn't deserve the fate that awaited him? Had he not deserved those twelve years in Azkaban?

"Professor? What's under a dementor's hood?" Ginny asked, hesitantly.

Lupin looked up from the paper he'd started to grade. "Why would you ask?"

"It's not in any of the books I looked in. They were too afraid to talk about it."

"I'm not sure it's because they were afraid to talk about it." The professor's shoulders sagged as he leaned back in his chair. "The only wizards that know aren't in any condition to tell us." His eyes looked over at them for a hint of recognition, but Ginny felt as lost as Harry did.

"A dementor only lowers its hood to use its final weapon – the Dementor's Kiss. No one is really sure what happens except that it steals the soul of any living being and leaves behind the body as a shell, technically still living but without capacity for thought or emotion."

Both Harry and Ginny shivered and felt as though a chill had swept in through the closed window. Immediately their minds asked the obvious question – what would happen if one of their souls was stolen and the other remained? The implications were too terrifying to think about, even without considering what might happen to the unfortunate victim of that fate.

"It is the fate that awaits Sirius Black, should he be caught."

Harry sucked in a breath, shocked. Ginny felt nearly the same, and spoke her feelings. "They can't do that, can they? Without a trial or something?"

Lupin's smile was devoid of humor. "I'm afraid they can. Fudge signed the order and it hasn't been overturned by Wizengamot. I doubt it will, seeing as he was sentence to life in Azkaban without a trial as well."

"He was sentenced without a trial?!" Ginny asked, shocked. She clearly still had naive ideas about a perfect justice system, one that wouldn't cut corners and hand out Azkaban sentences without so much as an inquiry, but Harry knew what it must have been like for wizards back then. Just a few weeks ago, he'd admitted to Ginny that he would kill Black if he had the chance, and he had really believed that, but now he was sure he wouldn't. Even though only circumstantial evidence supporting Black's innocence had surfaced, the trial could have gotten really messy and someone had to be blamed for all of the Muggles that had been killed. Harry could understand that, given that he'd been extremely quick to blame Black for betraying his parents. He supposed he had the excuse of Dumbledore telling him it was true, but he'd still wanted the man Kissed and would have tossed him to a dementor without a second thought. Now he wasn't sure what he wanted, other than to prevent injustice this time around.

"I'm afraid so, Ginny. Everyone, including me, assumed he was guilty of killing all those Muggles, even if they never knew about the Potters. There were more than a few eyewitnesses that all saw the same thing, and it's hard not to believe that."

Harry felt his feelings mixing with Ginny's in a maelstrom of confusion. The only thing that was clear was they hadn't a clue what to think, and neither of them was ready to condemn anyone to having their soul taken from them without at least a chance to defend themselves. If Peter had been the traitor, then he could have murdered all those Muggles and left Sirius to take the blame for it after his death, or possibly suicide.

"On a lighter note, I have a question for the two of you," Lupin said, a sparkle returning to his eye that wasn't unlike Dumbledore's. Harry wondered if there wasn't something more to his professor than a long history of academia and studies. After all, if he'd been friends with James at Hogwarts, and the things he'd heard about James were true, then Lupin might have been a bit of a troublemaker himself. "Are you by any chance involved?"

Ginny's face turned bright pink, as did Harry's after he picked up on Ginny's feelings and realized what Lupin was implying. "No, professor. We're just friends."

Lupin smiled mysteriously. "All right, I'm just asking."

An awkward (for Harry and Ginny) moment passed, and then Ginny spoke up. "Professor, if you don't mind me asking, what made you think that?"

"Nothing in specific, I suppose. I just got the feeling that there was something more than meets the eye to the two of you." He winked at Harry. "I had the same feeling with your Mum and dad, and I'd be lying if you two didn't remind me of them sometimes. When James was being a respectable gentleman, of course."

Harry wasn't sure whether to be proud that he reminded Lupin of James or embarrassed that it was in the context of a romantic relationship. He certainly wasn't in a romantic relationship with Ginny, and though they were closer than friends, he certainly didn't think he was even old enough to be in a relationship.

Looking for a way to steer the conversation in a different direction, Harry asked, "Professor? What were my Mum and Dad like?"

Lupin's smile broadened and the next hour and a half passed quickly under stories of Lily and James while they were at Hogwarts. Harry learned that they hadn't always been friends; in fact, there were times where Lily and James refused to speak to each other. He quickly realized those were some of the most humorous stories to hear about, given his father's natural talent for pranking and his mother's brilliant mind. From what Lupin told him, Harry wished a little more of his mother's brilliance had passed down to him, though he didn't say anything about it aloud. Lupin even told the story of James and Lily's engagement and wedding at Ginny's insistence; Harry hadn't been that interested in it, but Ginny felt almost dreamlike when she heard it. He had to admit it was romantic and sweet by definition, but that just wasn't his taste. Romantic and sweet were two words that had never applied to his life, and probably never would.

After Lupin reluctantly said he needed to get back to marking papers, Harry and Ginny wandered around the castle together with no real direction in mind. With term's end, they didn't have anything to study and since most of the castle was at Hogsmeade, the corridors were nearly devoid of meandering students. Unconsciously, they made their way up to the Astronomy Tower and looked out over the grounds silently, leaning against the half-wall of stone that separated them from a very long drop.

"Hullo!" One of the Weasley twins' voices boomed out over the silence, disturbing their peace. They turned toward the source of the noise, both feeling slightly irritated that they'd been disturbed. Fred was first out of the door, followed closely by George, who shut the door behind him.

"Fred...George? What are you doing here?"

They smiled in unison. "Oh, nothing, little sister. Just enjoying the view. Nice day, isn't it?" Harry thought it was Fred, but now that they were standing side by side, he couldn't tell.

"Uh huh. Since when have you cared what kind of day it is? And shouldn't you be in Zonko's?"

"Oh, we've already finished there. Besides, we have a few tricks of our own that you won't find in Hogsmeade." George waggled his eyebrows.

"I'm sure. Now spill – what are you doing up here?" Harry let Ginny handle her brothers; she obviously had more experience and was very proficient at it. They appeared a little uncomfortable before recovering their masks of good humor.

"So we're on our way up to the Astronomy Tower for perfectly innocent reasons –" Harry couldn't help but snort; he doubted the twins were ever innocent.

"Well, more innocent than usual," Fred picked up. "And when we arrive, we see our sister sharing a private moment with none other than Harry Potter."

George continued smoothly right from where Fred stopped. "Now this is interesting, because said sister has had a rather large crush on said Harry Potter for going on twelve and a half years now, and we wondered if she'd finally managed to ensnare him with her fabulous charms."

Harry found Ginny's feelings an amusing mix of embarrassment and indignance. "I'm glad you've managed to remember how old I am, for once," she replied icily. _What's so funny?_ She asked Harry,some of her irritation making its way into her mental voice.

The twins weren't deterred. "Feeling a bit amorous as of late, Harry? Perhaps finding yourself in interesting situations with a certain sister of ours?"

For once, Harry wasn't thrown by their demeanor. In fact, he almost felt like he wanted to beat them at their own game. "Potters have a thing for redheads, you know. My Mum was one." The observation had come from Lupin, and the desire for playful revenge was almost entirely Ginny's, but Harry enjoyed the dumbfounded expressions on the twins' faces all the same.

"I think Gin-Gin has been rubbing off on Mr. Potter, if you know what I mean," Fred (or George; Harry wasn't sure it mattered) whispered to his twin.

"Quite right, and not in an entirely good way. We might have to take action."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I have not been _rubbing off_ on Harry." _Not physically, at least, _she silently added, so only Harry could hear. She knew as well as he did how much their feelings influenced each other.

"Whatever you say, little sister. We think differently, and we'll be watching you."

For whatever reason, that caused a huge spike in Ginny's irritation, causing it to turn into anger. Harry had heard the teasing chime to George's voice, but it seemed she hadn't. Before she could say or do anything rash, he flooded her system with all of his emotions. He didn't care what she felt, only that she was too distracted to do anything else.

"I didn't know you two were so much like your mum," Harry grinned, hoping to keep the conversation light. However, the twins were staring at Ginny, who was blinking rapidly and looked a little unsteady on her feet. She recovered and gave Harry an annoyed glance before turning back to the twins.

"The whole common room couldn't stop me if I wanted to snog Harry." She sounded defiant, and judging from her feelings, she was considering doing just that. The idea disappeared as quickly as it came, but it had still been there, and they both knew it.

Fred and George looked at Harry, who silently shook his head even as Ginny wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a very close embrace. Instead of pulling back, she rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

_Just this once..._

He was fairly sure she hadn't intended for him to hear that thought, but it didn't do him any good to ignore it, especially with Fred and George staring at them with confused looks. It seemed they didn't know what to do at this point, and honestly, neither did Harry. He let his arms fold around Ginny even as his eyes told Fred and George he was as confused as they were. After a moment, they shrugged and started to leave, indicating with a couple gestures that Ginny was his problem and he was the one who had to fix it. Or possibly the only one who could fix it; Harry couldn't read them that well.

As they stood there, Harry felt a deep contentment wash over Ginny like he'd never felt before. She'd never felt so at peace as she did at this moment in time, so he tried to stand without moving, giving her whatever it was she found in him that made her so comfortable. He didn't understand it, but he also didn't question it. Her feelings were real, incontrovertible proof that all he had to do was reach out and touch to remember their authenticity.

------

They must have stood up on the top of the Astronomy tower for longer than Harry thought, because by the time they came down, the students were just returning from Hogsmeade. As they waited in the Great Hall for Ron and Hermione, Harry could feel a sadness take the place of the contentment she'd just felt. He knew he was ignoring the reason for that sadness because he didn't want to think about Ginny in that way, but even as he did, he wondered what was so wrong with it. He was too young, for one, but there was something else. At times he wondered if he even knew how to be a good boyfriend, if that's what Ginny wanted, and he wouldn't even think about hurting her through his inexperience. Things were best left as they were for now, even if he was starting to feel attracted to her the more she forced physical contact on him. It was a strange attraction, because at twelve there wasn't anything all that special about her appearance, but it was there just the same.

Ron and Hermione came through the doors to the Entrance Hall smiling and generally looking like they'd had a good time. Ginny looked up at him with a mental _I told you so_ before bounding over to greet them, her outward exuberance a complete mismatch with the way she was feeling on the inside. Harry was always impressed at how she could do such a convincing expression of happiness no matter what she was feeling on the inside.

"So did you two have fun?" Even her eyes had a mischievous glint.

"Loads," Ron said brightly. He was off explaining everything they'd done, sounding everything like the Ron that Harry knew. Whatever had happened in the village, it had been good for Ron and Hermione, who appeared to be on very good terms with one and other. Ginny must have known something he didn't, because she was definitely right about a day in Hogsmeade being good for them.

Hermione slid over to stand by them, and suddenly Harry got the feeling Ron was only talking to Ginny while he and Hermione were simply watching. He glanced over at her, but she took her time as she watched (there was no other word) Ron speak. Finally, she nodded and turned to Harry, nearly whispering.

"Have you looked at Ron's mind?"

Harry blinked. "Why would I do that?" It hadn't even occurred to him that there would be a reason to.

"Well, I was just curious. You know, defending him from Snape or something."

Harry shook his head. "The only time Snape attacked him was during his detention."

Hermione pursed her lips, as if making a decision. "Can you look into it right now?"

"Now? Why?"

"Because I want to know what it looks like. Academic interest."

Both she and Harry knew this was something considerably more than academic interest, and until he had a solid reason to invade his friend's privacy, he refused. "No."

"What?" Hermione looked at him as though she'd never considered the possibility of him not doing it.

Harry shrugged. "I'm not going to invade Ron's privacy without a good reason."

Hermione's expression clouded. "There is a good reason."

"What is it?"

"I can't tell you. Just like I can't tell Ron about you and Ginny."

"You have a lot of secrets," Harry observed, and Hermione flushed. She didn't respond to that and the conversation was dropped, though Harry suspected it would be taken up again when they were alone. He had to admit that he believed her when she said that there was a good reason – she wasn't the type to make up something like that – but he still wanted to know what he was looking for and why. The only person he would ever let inside his mind was Ginny, and that only because their minds were connected in a way no other witch and wizard were. He considered his mental dormitory a very personal space and it wasn't just to be walked in on whoever decided they wanted to.

However, he had to admit that Ron was acting much more like himself and Harry couldn't tell if he was faking it or not. After Hermione's suggestion, he was very tempted to just take a peek at Ron's thoughts, but he banished the idea and tried to not think about it again.

------

The train bound for King's Cross arrived in a hurry on Sunday morning, catching Harry and Ron almost unprepared for the early departure. They hurriedly packed at the last minute and checked to make sure neither of them forgot anything, and then helped Neville remember his Potions text book. Harry wanted to ask what had Ron in such a good mood, but he remembered what Hermione had said and decided not to ask. It was unlikely Ron would tell him, and it would probably create an awkward situation.

The trip itself was rather uneventful, though Harry half expected Sirius Black to jump from one of the compartments and attack him. However, after thinking about it, he wasn't as sure that he was in any real danger. He still took the threat seriously, but Ginny had survived an encounter with him no worse for wear the morning after. It seemed like a huge risk for no gain to leave Ginny alive once she'd seen him, and yet he'd only knocked her out hard enough to keep her quiet until he could escape the castle grounds.

Hermione had her nose buried in her Arithmancy textbook from the very beginning, so Harry, Ginny, and Ron had to pass the time with games amongst themselves and later with Neville, who happened to appear while avoiding Malfoy. Harry's felt a bitter distaste at hearing the blonde's name, but Ginny was quick to soothe him with a mental nudge. As the day passed and they came closer to King's Cross, she had to repeat the gesture quite a bit to tame his nerves; he'd been at the Burrow after his first year, but that seemed like a very long time ago and before he'd bonded with Ginny. Not only that, but Fred and George had poked their heads in once to "check up on the little ones", but Harry swore Fred had thrown a gleeful glance his way. Ginny hadn't noticed it, and tried unsuccessfully to convince him it was nothing.

As they grew closer to the station, Alicia stuck her head in with a slightly worried expression. Her eyes searched the room for a moment before they rested on Harry.

"Do you have a minute?"

Harry rose without question and stepped out into the hallway, curious, but certainly not surprised. "What is it?"

She shifted on her feet, clearly a little out of sorts. "Are you going to stay with Muggles over the holiday?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I'm going to stay with the Weasleys. I'd rather stay at Hogwarts than go live with my aunt and uncle."

Alicia let out a huge sigh of relief. She'd obviously thought that he was going to stay at the Dursleys' over Christmas, for whatever misguided reason. "I just wondered, because, you know..." She trailed off, clearly not sure what to say.

"Don't worry about it. I only have to stay with them during the summers."

The worried expression returned slightly, but she pretended it hadn't. "Well, I just wanted to wish you a Happy Christmas."

Harry smiled. "You too, Alicia."

She turned and headed back down the corridor, to where Harry noticed that Katie and Angelina were waiting. He exchanged waves with them before stepping back into the compartment, wondering if girls (besides Ginny) always traveled in packs like that. Maybe it gave them confidence.

"What was that about?" Hermione immediately asked, before he could even sit down. He sensed Ginny had the same question, but didn't want to ask. She knew he'd tell her if he could.

"Nothing. She just had a question." And to Ginny,_ she just wanted to know if I was going back to the Dursleys' for Christmas_.

Ginny giggled. _As if they'd take you after you blew up your aunt._

"Then why did she want to talk to you alone?"

Harry was in the process of coming up with a nice way to respond when Ginny decided that nice wasn't going to work. "Maybe because she didn't want any of us to hear?"

Hermione and Ginny glared at each other, but Harry felt no real anger from Ginny. Hermione broke first, looking away and going back to her book before Ginny sat back and smiled inwardly.

_Having fun?_

_Just a bit._

_You know the only reason you said that was because I told you what she said._

_So?_

Harry sighed and leaned his head against the window, waiting for the train to arrive at King's Cross.

------

_Harry!_

His attention jerked around at Ginny's call. He reflexively scanned her vision and saw nothing that should have made her as scared as she felt.

_You didn't see it, did you?_

Harry could only give her a mental negative as the Weasleys loaded up rental car. Mrs. Weasley had been excited to see him, even more so than he might have expected, and even Mr. Weasley seemed to like the idea of having a guest for Christmas. It was an odd feeling being welcomed, but Harry had rather liked it, assuming that the feelings were genuine. For all he knew, they could just be pretending.

_See what?_

_The Grim._

_Where did you see it?_ Harry believed her, because she certainly believed what she was saying, but it was an odd place for it to appear. They weren't in any immediate danger, and he hadn't gone through an accident like nearly being run over by the Knight Bus or cracking his head on a window. Lupin had acted funny when Ginny told him about the Grim; maybe there was something more to the situation.

_Over there. _Ginny flicked her eyes out the back window as she crawled into the middle of the backseat and was squished on either side by Fred and George. Harry just caught the vision of an alley and understood, though when he looked there was nothing but shadows and a rubbish bin.

_We've seen it twice and neither of us has died, so I guess it's not real._

Ginny's irritation at being squeezed between the twins (and furthermore, not Harry) combined with her insecurity to form a very uncomfortable emotion. _I suppose._

Harry nudged her playfully and she smiled for his benefit, but he could tell that she wasn't in a particularly good mood. Rather than try to cheer her up, he gave her another soft feeling and then left her alone, staring out the window as the city drifted by. It took them a good while to get to the Burrow, but when they arrived, Harry felt the same as he had two years before, when he'd arrived by flying car courtesy of Fred, George, and Ron. This was what a home was supposed to look like, and the people who belonged here were what a family was supposed to be. It was still a new concept for him, the idea that family wasn't a bad thing, but he was slowly coming to the right conclusions. Ginny noticed his introspection and smiled at him, but he shook it off like it was nothing.

He'd just stepped through the door when it hit him. A warm shiver ran from his toes to the top of his head, and then a flash of orange light was followed by a _BANG_ and the warm feeling pushing its way out of the top of their head. He rubbed his eyes from the flash of light, trying to remove the spots from his vision and ignore Ginny's shock mixed with glee. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he was sure that Fred and George were behind it. He opened his eyes again and saw nothing out of the ordinary, but then Ginny called him and pushed her vision toward him. He took one look and closed his eyes, leaving her mind and praying it wasn't true.

"Always thought he was a Weasley," Fred offered.

"Must have been those Muggles, keeping him locked up all the time." George said.

"Quite right dear brother. I reckon he's finally come out with his true colors."

With that, most of the Weasleys sniggered as Molly ushered Harry through the door. For once, she didn't seem perturbed by the twins' antics; Harry could have sworn that a smile was tugging at the corners of her mouth.

_You know, they're right Harry. Red really does look good on you._

_Shut up._

Ginny sniggered gleefully and bounced up to run a hand through his hair, testing its new shade that was nearly identical to her own. Mrs. Weasley gave her an unidentifiable look and she backed off, but it did nothing to diminish her suddenly joyful feelings.

_The freckles were a nice touch._

_The what?!_

_Oh, you didn't see? _Ginny giggled. _They look a little out of place, but I think__ they're cute._

_I'm not cute, _Harry protested mutinously as Ginny peeled off to take her stuff into her room. He and Ron continued all the way up to the top floor where they would be staying for the holidays. As usual, Harry was blinded by all the Cannons paraphernalia around the room, but he couldn't help thinking that his hair was now as obnoxious as anything in the room. Deciding to unpack later (if at all), he collapsed on the bed and groaned.

"If it makes you feel any better mate, they don't usually make things permanent."

Harry turned and looked up at Ron, who was having trouble keeping a straight face. "Go ahead, laugh. I suppose it is a bit amusing." Ron's face lit up in a bright grin as Harry rolled his eyes. "I hope it goes away soon though."

Ron shrugged. "I reckon it'll wear off by the end of break. At least, you'd better hope it does."

Harry swung a pillow which Ron dodged rather clumsily. "You seem to be feeling better."

The redhead's (the natural redhead, at least) smile faded slightly. "Yeah, I'm all right. Don't particularly want to talk about though."

Harry understood that. "Good to have you back."

Ron answered by swinging a pillow in retaliation, landing it square on Harry's head just as Ginny poked her head into the room. She raised an eyebrow at Ron before speaking. "Mum says dinner in a half hour." Her eyes tracked over to Harry as she grinned. "Only those with red hair and freckles are invited." She ducked out of the room before Harry's pillow could meet her face.

------

The next couple days were some of the best Harry could remember. He helped around the house with chores, but he didn't mind one bit. In fact, after spending most of his life with the Dursleys, a bit of easy work with friends was like a vacation of sorts. Setting out Christmas decorations couldn't be considered hard work by any stretch of the imagination, unless he counted Ginny's attempts to get him under a branch of mistletoe. He saw her put each one out and carefully avoided meeting her under one, much to her frustration and slight amusement.

On the fourth day of the break, Thursday, Ginny holed up in her room and told him to give her some privacy. He could feel her emotions shift dramatically from what they had been the first three days, so he knew something was up and she needed to deal with it, but out of respect for her privacy, he didn't ask. He would probably figure it out sooner or later anyway; things had a habit of doing that between them, regardless of their best efforts. As it turned out, he was even more right than he guessed. About five in the afternoon, an hour before the scheduled time for supper, Ginny emerged from her room feeling a little better. She was still high-strung and extremely nervous about something, but there was an undercurrent of resolve and relief that told Harry she would be okay, eventually.

What he hadn't expected, though, was the parchment she handed him. It was coiled rather tightly into a small roll, tied with a wide pink ribbon in an elegant bow. Her eyes told him that he shouldn't ask, so he didn't. Instead, he tucked it into his trouser's pocket, careful not to damage the bow.

_I'll read it when I can get alone._

She nodded and walked past him, as to not arouse suspicion. _Take your time. I...I really want you to think about it._

_Okay._

Okay was probably a massive overstatement, but for whatever reason she'd written something down, it obviously was something she didn't want to tell him personally. He hoped she would explain that reasoning as well, because any kind of motive she might have eluded him.

It wasn't until after supper and most of the Weasley brothers were off doing their own thing that Harry got a chance to read the parchment. He and Ron were up in the latter's bedroom, but Ron was so absorbed in his comic that Harry doubted a dragon would be able to catch his attention. After making sure this was indeed the case and cleaning his glasses, Harry untied the ribbon, unfurled the parchment, and began to read Ginny's compact script.

Harry,

I suppose you're wondering why I would write to you when I could explain it a lot better by simply telling you. I'll be honest – I don't think I could finish what I have to say if I felt everything you did as you listened. I don't think you'll be very surprised, but you probably won't want to think about it and given what I'm about to tell you, feeling that would hurt a lot even if you didn't mean it to.

This is hard even writing this, because I know later I'll be handing this to you and that you'll be reading it. I've held things down for so long that I'm not even sure if I feel properly anymore, and that's one of the reasons I'm telling you now. I'm tired of pretending I don't feel things and hiding from you, and I don't want to do it anymore, even if it hurts our friendship. You said when we first talked – really talked – that my feelings for you were confusing and you didn't know what to do with him. I could tell even then that you were uncomfortable, so I buried them and pretended to only want to be your best friend because I thought that would be the best for both of us.

I didn't know how close we would get, or that our bond would keep getting stronger no matter what we wanted it to do. Don't get me wrong – I like our connection – but I sometimes wonder if we would be able to handle it better in a few years, or possibly ten or twenty. But that's not the point, because it is getting stronger, and it's getting harder and harder on me to hide things and pretend I'm not feeling things I am. I thought maybe when I got to know you and found out that you're not perfect like my dreams, my feelings would calm down and leave me in peace, but I was wrong. They've changed, but they haven't gone away. The more I see of you and the closer I get to you, the more I realize that you're special to me in a way no one else can be. You're not perfect, both you and I know that, but I don't think I would like it any better if you were. I can't explain it in words, but you've felt it before. I just like you, and that's all I can really say.

You also told me that you don't want a girlfriend, but you feel differently toward me than you did Hermione. I'm not asking you for a marriage proposal, or to go on dates and other boy-girl things, but don't hide your own feelings just because you're afraid to feel them. If you must, pretend that the bond is making you feel this way, and that there's not much you can do about it even if you wanted to. I know that isn't true, and I think you know that isn't true, but I hate watching you crawl into your shell because you're afraid of being connected to anyone. I don't expect you to change right away, but I do think you should because you have people that care about you, least of all me.

Like I said, I'm not expecting anything to be different right away, so this probably doesn't change anything other than I feel better now. You're going to know I'm terrified when I hand this letter to you, but if you reach out to me now, I think you'll be surprised at what you find. I won't say the l-word because I'm not completely sure, but I care for you more than I've ever cared for anyone else in my entire life. It feels wonderful to know that I don't have to pretend I don't.

Always yours,

Ginny

As soon as he finished the letter, Harry reached out to Ginny and brushed her feelings. She was right about one thing; she certainly did feel different. Lighter, and overall happier, if he could tell that from such a quick glance. She felt his presence inside her and gave him a tentative smile, which he returned. Her entire being seemed to let out a huge sigh of relief, and she went back to focusing on whatever her mother was talking about. Harry didn't eavesdrop; he had plenty of other things to think about at the moment. He knew he was going to have to make some sort of compromise, something to show Ginny that he wasn't entirely put off by what she'd said. Maybe he could give her something she almost already had, and something that she would appreciate more than most things he could give.

_Ginny, when you get a chance –_

_I know._

Harry smiled to himself. Of course she did. Knowing her, she'd been monitoring his feelings with a microscope once she'd realized he was reading her letter, only further proving that she'd been right to write it out and make sure she said exactly what she wanted to. Her thoughts had come out nearly perfectly on paper, whereas she would have stumbled and probably lost confidence if she'd tried to tell him face to face.

Realizing that he couldn't exactly have a heart to heart with Ginny with Ron around, he climbed out of bed and shuffled to the door, wondering where he could go to get a bit of privacy. He considered Ginny's room, but threw that idea out after a few moments of thinking. The Weasley brothers were already suspicious of their relationship, and if he was caught in Ginny's room talking with her, there was no telling what might be inferred from the situation. It didn't matter that he'd figuratively slept in the same bed as her already; there was no way on Earth that anyone besides him and Ginny would ever know about that.

He wound up on the third floor of The Burrow, which was unusual in that it didn't have any bedrooms. It did contain a small bathroom and one other room, which Harry had spotted Ginny poking her head out of when he'd first met her nearly a year and a half ago. It seemed like such a long time since then, as she was no longer shy and embarrassed around him and hadn't been in ages. The room that he now entered was a medium-sized game room, mostly likely built for the children to play in when they were home from Hogwarts for the holidays. It didn't look as though it was used much, with the twins always in their room doing Merlin-knows-what, Percy in his room writing secret love letters and generally being the family recluse, and Bill and Charlie moving out and living in different countries. There was evidence that Ginny had spent some time in here, which was understandable given the small size of her bedroom.

"I used to spend most of my time in here," Ginny's voice said from behind him as he gazed around at her childlike decorations. He found her artwork the most interesting – it was possible to see her age just by examining the complexity of the drawings and even finger painting. "When I wasn't running around outside like a little boy, of course."

Harry smiled at that. He'd never think of her as a little boy, no matter how much she acted like it sometimes. He knew her too well. "This was the first time I saw you."

She wandered over to a badly worn couch and sat down, a small tinge of embarrassment running through her. "I was a little girl back then."

He thought that comment really odd, as if she thought she wasn't a little girl any more. For Merlin's sake, she was only twelve, and yet he still wondering if she was right. He certainly didn't feel very young either. Rather than responding, he plopped down next to her, drawing a look and feeling of surprise. He'd never voluntarily sat that close to her, so that he was nearly leaning against her even when the couch was plenty long enough for there to be space between them. She almost pulled away to make him more comfortable, but even as she started to move, his disappointed feeling stopped her.

"You shouldn't have done this, you know."

"Done what?"

Harry finally looked over at her and met her eyes. "Hid your feelings. I mean, I could have found them if I'd really looked, but you shouldn't do something just because you think I want it. You're just as important as I am."

"It was easier," she responded almost immediately. "We were already going through so much, and I didn't want to make it worse."

He agreed that it would have made things even more awkward, but that didn't make it right. Maybe she would have had an easier time if she hadn't been fighting herself as well as the bond. "If you want to show your feelings now, I don't mind."

Surprise washed through her system, followed by skepticism as she probed him for evidence of lying. "What do you mean?"

Harry took a breath and set himself, as it just dawned on him that he was about to change both of their lives. Things would be radically different now, if Ginny responded like he thought she would, and there was no telling what effects it might have. "You said that you weren't going to hide your feelings anymore, and I know you're a physical person." He could feel his cheeks flushing slightly, but he pushed on. "If you wanted to...er...show it that way, I'm not going to get mad or anything."

Ginny raised an eyebrow as a torrent of emotions fell over her. Principally among these were more surprise and doubt, but she held them back and waited for a coherent response to form in her mind. "Like...how?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably. He didn't know how, or he might have shown her in a different way. How was he supposed to know what a girl wanted out of a relationship? "I don't know, just pretend that we're together or something."

"Pretend?" Irritation began to form inside of her, something Harry had not expected. "If you're going to say that, why don't you just bloody well ask me out?"

"Because I'm afraid!" Harry snapped, and then a hand flew to his mouth. However, the damage was done. Ginny's eyes and feelings softened, the irritation bleeding away and replaced by sympathy. He didn't want her to feel sorry for him, but it was already happening and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"I'm sorry," she finally said. "I...I shouldn't have gotten irritated at you."

Harry shook his head. "It's fine."

She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed, giving up on making sense of the moment. Something about it just seemed to defy their attempts to understand it. "If this is the way you want it, then I'm happy with it. It's more than I was expecting anyway."

"I'm sorry too."

"Don't be. I can't force you to feel the same way I can."

"You know that I feel something like it. We both do."

She was silent for a long moment, thinking. "I know, but I can't force it out of you. And I wouldn't want to. Not really. If we have to take it really slow, then that's better than not going anywhere at all."

Harry didn't like the idea that they were moving anywhere, but he shoved it away and let Ginny think what she wanted to, even if she believed that they were boy/girlfriend. She was probably right, but he wouldn't admit it even to himself. However, he had accomplished what he'd wanted, which was to deal with Ginny's letter without it becoming awkward. It would be a little awkward for him, now that she had his permission to be physical with her affection, but he was going to have to learn at some point. Something else had been confirmed in the last few minutes, and that was their mutual feelings for each other that they didn't have for anyone else. It was glossed over because they both knew that he didn't even want to think about it, but it had happened and for better or worse, things would be different between them.

------

The rest of the days up until Christmas were light and happy, and even Ginny's occasional snuggling in front of her family couldn't put off Harry's good mood. He'd been surprised that she was so forward, but then again, that was just Ginny's style. She'd been hiding from him and herself for so long that she wasn't going to let a silly thing like her family's opinions get in the way of her happiness. Ron in particular seemed to be keeping an eye on them, as if trying to figure out what was going on, but Harry ignored it as best he could and returned Ginny's affection without looking too enthusiastic about it. The same also applied to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, though via Ginny he knew that they had figured more out than anyone else and even spotted a hidden smile on Mrs. Weasley's face when she thought they weren't looking. Harry didn't mind Ginny's parents too much; it was the rest of the school that he was worried about, and Ginny's brothers. Ginny understood the reasons for his reluctance to actively return her affections and was patient with him, and in return he never pushed her away when she insisted.

Christmas Eve dinner was flat-out the best meal Harry had ever consumed. It blew away the Hogwarts kitchens by a long shot, and by the time he was finished not even Mrs. Weasley could complain about the portions he'd taken. The only person who had matched him was Ron, but everyone had expected that. Even Ginny seemed slightly amazed, though with her insight into his reaction to the food it wasn't hard for her to understand. After all, she tasted a little bit of what he did, so it was almost like her eating with him, minus the stomachache that came with it.

Harry had hoped that by Christmas morning his red hair and freckles would have worn off, but no such luck. The presents, however, were nothing less than exquisite, even if there wasn't too much money floating around. Harry had gotten most of his through mail order like usual, since he couldn't go shopping in Hogsmeade and didn't have any other way of buying things. He'd managed to keep the emerald earrings he'd gotten Ginny a secret, though more because she wanted to be surprised than anything else. His choice of color surprised most of the Weasleys, but when Harry projected a mental image of the little green ball that represented her thoughts of him, she'd grinned wildly and tackled him in a vicious embrace.

His own presents were more of the usual variety, including a handmade ink-bottle from Ginny, which was clear with the words Harry J. Potter scripted in a combination of red and gold on the side. At least, he thought it was clear until he held it up to the light, at which point it turned into a rainbow of colors. After opening it, he'd glanced at her and noticed her smug smile and particularly proud feeling. He'd have to pay a little more attention to her, if she could make something like this without him knowing a thing. She received a gentle hug from Harry for her present, something she'd valued more than any gift she'd received from anyone.

Boxing Day was probably the laziest day Harry had all year. The Christmas decorations would stay up a while longer, until everyone went back to Hogwarts and the holiday truly ended, so there wasn't much to do but lie around and do nothing, as well as thank the twins for allowing his hair and complexion to return to normal once Christmas was done with. Nightfall arrived and forced them (the Weasley children, minus Percy and plus Harry) inside after a very long game of Quidditch, which had dissolved into keep away with the quaffle after not too long. Ginny hung around outside for a moment, noting that it was going to be a full moon that night, something Harry registered but didn't act on. He could tell that her mind was in a romantic sort of mood, no doubt set off by the moon, but he didn't know exactly how to react to it. He didn't want to act like a boyfriend and suggest they take a walk under the moonlight, but he didn't want to ignore her either. In the end, she came inside and he was relieved of having to make the decision.

It wasn't until two days later and an hour after dusk that the entire house heard a large _crash_, followed by angry voices and the light from spells lit up the Weasley's backyard. Harry, who was in the third floor room with Ron and Ginny playing chess, rushed to the window and saw three dark figures dueling at the edge of the wood. It looked like two on one, with the two pinning the one between them and the house, which a moment later became the position of Mr. Weasley as he entered the scene form the back door.

"We've got to go down there!" Harry said, already turning and grabbing his wand from his pocket. He wasn't sure who might be attacking The Burrow, but whatever the reason, it had to be him. He felt Ginny right behind him and Ron a moment later. A little voice in the back of Harry's head that sounded suspiciously like Hermione told him that it was a bad idea and that he should stay inside the house, but he ignored it. Hermione wasn't there, regardless of how much his mind could imagine her protesting the entire way.

He exploded out of the back door and nearly fell over at the sight that greeted him. Sirius Black was trapped between Arthur and two people Harry didn't recognize, though their wands were pointed straight at the ragged looking escapee in no uncertain terms.

"Give it up Black! You're outnumbered and trapped beneath the wards!" The larger of the two unknowns had a surprisingly melodic voice, something that Harry wouldn't have expected from such a character. However, while the African-looking man was speaking, Black's eyes had found Harry.

"Harry!" Sirius shouted, without any sort of eloquence. Mr. Weasley immediately came up to block any line of fire that Black might have to Harry, but the latter thought it was unnecessary. If Black had wanted him dead, the Killing Curse would have already been in the air. And besides, why would someone who wanted to kill him call his name?

"Mr. Weasley, can I talk to him?"

Arthur stared down at Harry as if he was out of his mind. "Why in Merlin's name would you want to do that?"

"Because I need to ask him something. I want to know why he did it."

The older man winced. "Did what?" he asked, though it was clear from his expression he knew exactly what Harry was talking about.

Rather than argue with him, Harry stepped around and looked at Black once again. He appeared miserable with sunken eyes, hair that needed a trimming badly, and a beard that looked like it had been cut down to a manageable size on the sharp edge of a rock. His wand wasn't even pointed in Harry's direction – rather, it was pointed at the two unknowns, as if he expected them to attack at any moment. For lack of any better wording, he repeated his question to Sirius himself.

"Why did you do it?"

Sirius's wand wavered slightly before regaining his focus. Harry's question threw him off-guard. "I've done a lot of things," he replied, his voice gravelly, probably from disuse.

"Why did you betray my parents?"

His answer almost didn't matter at this point; Harry saw the way the question hit him. No one could fake that level of anguish and pain, not spur of the moment. "I would have died to protect them, if I had the chance."

It was evasive at best, but Harry knew at least something was amiss. He stepped forward, shaking off Mr. Weasley's grasp on his shoulder and putting his wand away. Ginny almost leapt out in front of him, but he gave her a mental push and told her to stay back.

_If he kidnaps me, you'll be able to find me._

She reluctantly listened, but her fear dominated her system and was only restrained by Harry's constant wave of reassurance. He continued toward Sirius amid protests from everyone besides Ginny and Black himself, but he ignored them and continued to approach the man who had supposedly betrayed his parents to their deaths. However, Harry didn't believe that anymore, not really. There was something different going on; Black was guilty of something, that much was clear, but it wasn't his parents' deaths. His conversation with Lupin came to mind and suddenly everything made sense, as if all the pieces had come together. If they had indeed switch Secret-Keepers, everything was wrapped up in a nice little bow. Well, except for one thing.

"Why did you kill all those Muggles? Why not just Peter?"

Sirius froze, obviously trying to follow Harry's line of thinking. When he couldn't work it out, his eyes flicked toward his two attackers and then back to Harry. "I think we need to talk."

Harry was within two paces of Sirius when the unknown pair struck. A flurry of spells pounded against Sirius's hastily conjured shield and forced him backwards as Harry shouted "NO!" and stepped into the line of fire. Sirius's eyes went wide and his wand flicked to the right and back, causing a nearby stone to fly up behind Harry and transfigure into a thin, flat shield. A barrage of stunners hit the impromptu barrier before they ceased amid storms of cursing from almost everyone.

"What in the bloody hell do you think you're doing?!" Sirius exclaimed as he dropped the shield and revolved around Harry, keeping the younger boy between him and his two assailants at all times. His voice was starting to fail and become barely more than a whisper. "They're going to try to stun me as soon as they get a clear shot," he explained, calmer now that the spells had stopped.

"Then we have to go somewhere they can't find you."

For whatever reason, Sirius cracked a small smile, his eyes still on the two unknowns. "I suppose that's your father in you."

Harry tensed at the mention of his dad, but forced himself to remain outwardly calm. This wasn't going to get any better if he got defensive, and it certainly wouldn't help Sirius avoid the Kiss. Instead of responding, he merely waited for an explanation. Everything depended on his ability to be in control.

"We'll have to get out from the wards before I can side-along you. And it's going to have to look good."

This time, he couldn't stop from asking. If Sirius was going to do something to him, he wanted to know exactly what it was "Side-along?"

Sirius blinked. "Apparition. You've done it before, right?"

"Yeah." He tried to sound offhanded, and the lie seemed to work as Sirius began to step toward the forest, slowly. Harry understood and followed Sirius's wand tip, which was now at his throat in the universal sign for hostage. He kept himself between Black and all of the Weasleys' wands. He heard sounds of frustration and calls for Sirius to let him go, but he blocked it out. Ginny would be able to watch over him and find him almost immediately, but if he let Sirius be captured now, there was no doubt he'd get the Kiss. Whatever had happened on Halloween thirteen years ago, Harry was starting to realize the greatest portion of the blame didn't lie on Sirius's shoulders. He didn't know who was to blame, but it felt as though he was about to find out.

Once they passed the tree line, Sirius stepped forward and took Harry's arm in his. The last thing Harry heard before he disappeared was Ginny's whispered _be careful._


	16. Padfoot and Wormtail

**16: Padfoot and Wormtail**

Harry felt as though he was being sucked through a rubber tube half his size, and that there was someone on the other side using a cane around his midsection to pull him through it. It was altogether an unpleasant experience, made easier only by its very short duration, under a second. However, he landed quite gracefully with two feet on solid floor and not even a shift in weight in either direction. Perhaps it was Sirius holding him; Harry certainly felt like pitching off to one side and lying down for a while.

His surroundings, at a glance, were somewhere between dark, darker, and darkest. There was a layer of dust on everything that made him want to sneeze, and though the room itself was quite large, the depressing blackness closed around him like a blanket. It had once been a sitting room, however long ago anyone had actually used it, though by Harry's estimation it had to be fifty or more years.

"I suppose you take after your mum. She never did like magical transportation."

Harry's head snapped around, a little thrown by the reference. It wasn't surprising given what they'd come to discuss, but he'd never met someone who talked so freely about his mum and dad. Well, besides Professor Lupin. Suddenly, Harry remembered that Black and Lupin had been best friends during school, but he didn't mention it. That was something they could talk about later.

"Where are we?"

The smile on the older man's face was twisted. "The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Current Population, Zero."

Harry might have guessed the house wasn't lived in; it certainly didn't look habitable. He watched as Sirius stripped down two of the armchairs and cleaned them with spells so powerful that the color began to leave the cloth they were made of. Once he was satisfied, Sirius plopped down in one of them and gestured to the other.

"I'd offer tea and biscuits, but I'm currently out."

"It's all right," Harry replied as he took a seat in the chair. It was rather comfortable, if a bit regal for his taste. He wasn't sure where to look since everything seemed dirty and he didn't want to stare at filth.

"Master has returned, the blood-traitor." A scratchy and scornful voice sounded from the other side of the room, the hatred within it clear as day. "And he's brought a half-blood, he has. My mistress –"

"Your Mistress is _dead_, Kreacher," Sirius cut in shortly. "Now leave us. We are not to be disturbed for any reason. Visitors may come calling, you'll want to turn them away." He paused for a moment, and then added, "And you will turn them away. That's an order."

"We is having...visitors?" Kreacher asked, intrigued. "Is they _proper_ visitors?"

Sirius's eyes glanced over to Harry, the beginnings of a genuine smile on his face. "I'd imagine there will be a few Weasleys, a squad of Aurors, a Muggleborn if she hears about it, and perhaps Dumbledore himself. Sounds like a mighty fine group of witches and wizards, if you ask me."

Kreacher, who Harry had just been able to make out through the darkness, cringed with every addition to the list as if it was a physical blow. The little thing looked like Dobby, except the two house-elves couldn't be more different if they tried. Kreacher was dark and twisted, fixed in a permanent crouch with chalk white skin. Wherever Dobby showed excitement and youth, Kreacher looked old and decrepit. Personally, Harry thought he made a good match for the house.

After Sirius was finished, the ugly old house-elf disappeared with a _pop,_ leaving them alone once again. Harry wasn't going to ask, but it seemed Sirius was in a talkative mood anyway.

"We Blacks are one of the oldest pureblood families in England." Sirius seemed to think this explained everything. "Kreacher is an unfortunate accessory that came with the house and family line."

Harry nodded as though he understood, though he really didn't. He was still trying to figure out something else Sirius had said. "How do you know about Hermione?"

The older man laughed, his throat scratching. He conjured up two glasses of fresh water and handed one to Harry before downing one himself. "It won't last in your stomach, but it helps with the throat." Harry was about to ask again when he leaned back and explained. "As you might have noticed, I've been in and out of Hogwarts all year. Pathetic security, really. Maybe I'll talk to Albus about it one of these days."

Harry wondered whether Sirius was really on first name terms Dumbledore, but he supposed they could have been before the former went to Azkaban.

"And to answer your question," Sirius tipped his head to indicate Harry's unspoken thought, "I didn't kill all those Muggles. Peter did when he escaped."

That was the expected answer, but Harry met it with skepticism. He didn't have any proof other than Sirius's word, and that meant precious little at the moment. "How do I know you're not lying?"

Sirius shrugged. "You don't. But I can give you a good reason to believe me."

Harry blinked. "You can?"

Sirius leaned forward, his eyes focusing on Harry to show how serious he was. Harry was momentarily distracted, thinking he'd seen those eyes before, but the recognition was forgotten as soon as the bomb was dropped.

"Peter is still alive."

Harry reeled from that statement, at first refusing to believe it completely. Suddenly his dad's friends seemed to be a dime a dozen, with them teaching at Hogwarts, breaking out of prison, and coming back from the dead. He wasn't sure what to believe, other than to feel confused and like there was a something huge he didn't know.

"What?! Where is he?"

"Before I tell you where he is, why do you think I'd want to kill Peter?"

Harry gulped. All he had was a theory, and if he was wrong, things could get really bad. Out of nowhere, Ginny sent him a reassuring feeling, bolstering his confidence and letting him know that he wasn't alone. Inspired, he decided to get straight to the point. "Was Peter the Secret-Keeper?"

Watching someone's head spin was quite amusing, Harry and Ginny decided together. Sirius blinked and shook his head to clear it, and then stared at Harry as if he was a four-headed alien. "How...do I want to know how you figured that out?"

Harry told the tale of Dumbledore's admission that his parents had been betrayed, carefully leaving out the part where he'd wanted to have Sirius Kissed, and then the events leading up to the conversation with Lupin the day before term ended. Sirius smiled at the mention of his old friend, and gazed at Harry admiringly when the story was done.

"Got it in one. But how did you know Peter was there the night of the attack? You should have been too young to remember."

Harry shifted uncomfortably. He didn't really want to answer, but he couldn't just leave that gaping hole of knowledge for Sirius to wonder about. Regardless of how friendly the man had acted, he was still hunted by the Ministry and a possible murderer. He didn't need any more advantages than he already had.

_You can tell him, Harry._

Ginny's voice pushed him a little closer to the edge, but he still wasn't convinced. _Why?_

_Remember what he looked like when you asked him why he betrayed your mum and dad. He's not going to hurt you._

Harry sighed and shook his head. She was right, given the situation, but he still felt a nagging discomfort. Ginny slowly rubbed it out with feelings of her own as Sirius stared at Harry, obviously wondering what was going on.

"The dementors make me remember, when I get too close to them."

Sirius sucked in a breath, shocked. He was speechless for the moment, allowing Ginny to wrap Harry in a mental embrace that reenergized him. He was starting to feel the wear and tear of a long day and an even longer night. Harry and Sirius sat in silence for a long few moments before Sirius broke it with a whispered "I'm sorry." After that, Ginny nudged thoughts into Harry's head about Peter, encouraging him to continue the conversation and get his mind off the image of his mother's face as Voldemort advanced.

"What happened to Peter?"

Sirius looked up as he processed the question. "Do you really want to know?" When Harry nodded, Sirius asked, "How long has Ron's rat been in the family?"

Besides the fact that Sirius was calling Ron by name, the notion that he knew the pets of Harry's best friends was a little disturbing. Harry didn't know, but Ginny was quick to answer. _Twelve years. Percy found him running around in our backyard a little after I was born._

"Twelve years, but what does Scabbers have to do with anything?"

Sirius smiled humorlessly. "Do you know what an Animagus is?"

Harry almost shook his head, but a deeply sickening feeling from Ginny gave him pause. She felt as though she was about to puke, and some of that feeling transferred to Harry, who had to put a hand to his stomach. He caught flashes of realization from her, and with each flash, the feeling got worse and worse. Suddenly Sirius's question about whether he really wanted to know didn't seem so silly.

_An Animagus is someone who can transform into an animal..._ Ginny said absently. Why this caused her to be sick, Harry didn't...and then it dawned on him. He couldn't be sure, not without confirmation, but the sickening feeling wasn't entirely Ginny's anymore.

"I know what they are."

"About fifteen years ago, two Gryffindors got the bright idea to become Animagi illegally, without registering so they could help a friend. Naturally, these two Gryffindors shared their idea with a third friend, and off they went, studying hard on their project and working through it. It took a long time, but each of them eventually made the transformation and were able to help a fourth friend with his problem. After Hogwarts, certain events –" Sirius looked as though he had a bad taste in his mouth, "Forced them in different directions. One to death, one to prison, one to exile, and one into hiding. Now, the one in hiding needed a wizarding family nearby to keep up with the news, and watch for his Master's return, because he knew as well as anyone that Voldemort wasn't truly dead." Harry could tell Sirius had thought about this speech a lot; he'd certainly had the time.

"He eventually found a family that suited his purposes, one where the father worked at the Ministry and a whole line of children would be heading to Hogwarts. Eventually, he found himself in an excellent position, belonging to none other than Harry Potter's best friend and able to procure a wealth of information to provide upon his master's return." Harry could feel the ice grip his chest as Ginny's suspicions were confirmed. They'd been expecting it, but it didn't hurt any less and their bond did nothing but amplify the feelings between each other. By now, Ginny was lying face down on her bed, gripping her pillow tightly and trying not to think about what she couldn't get out of her mind.

"The one in prison spent twelve years hanging onto one idea that the dementors couldn't take away. He knew he was innocent, and that was not a happy thought, but a simple fact that kept him sane." Sirius reached into his robe pocket and pulled out a battered, worn, and slightly disgusting newspaper clipping, handing it to Harry. "He recognized the rat for what he was, and so he escaped to commit the murder that he was imprisoned for."

Harry recognized the picture from the _Daily Prophet_ article Ron had sent him about the Weasleys winning a galleon draw, but at Sirius's words, he looked up sharply. "So you're still trying to kill Peter?"

Sirius shook his head. "He wanted nothing more than to kill the one who had destroyed everything he loved, but he'd forgotten one thing. His best friend's son was still at Hogwarts, quite without a family and most likely alone. He was pleased to find out that was not the case, and that the son had three of the best friends that anyone could ask for." Sirius paused at that line and sniffed, showing the first sign of his breaking composure. At this point, he abandoned any thoughts of remaining impersonal and gazed at Harry with sorrowful eyes.

"I heard you yelling at Ginny one night. At first I thought you were just being like Lily and James were when they were younger, but then I heard the words. I hope you can forgive me for never being there. If I had known, I would have taken care of you in an instant." Finally, the floodgates opened and tears began to fall down Sirius's gaunt face, making him appear even more desolate and alone than he had before. "James asked me to do one thing if he died, and I failed him. I failed him Harry, and I've failed you." Whatever else Sirius said was lost in a sharp intake of air as he tried to keep from outright sobbing. Both Harry and Ginny sat transfixed, watching a grown man dissolve into tears of regret and guilt, unsure of what to say or even how to react. Harry gave Sirius a few moments of peace, right up until something else ran through his mind.

_Animagi...eyes...giant dog...Sirius...those eyes...Animagi...Grim._

"You're the Grim," Harry whispered to himself and Ginny. Sirius looked up, his eyes still moist and slightly pink, but he appeared to have composed himself.

"The Grim?" He managed to choke out.

Harry nodded. "I've been seeing a huge black dog all year, and I saw one like it on the front of a Divination book. I thought I was seeing a Grim, because I almost died every time I saw it."

"Y-You almost died when you saw me?" Sirius exclaimed. The idea didn't do anything to ease his feelings, but it did confirm Harry's guess.

"The first time I almost got run over by the Knight Bus, and the second time," he trailed off, realizing it wasn't him that saw the Grim, it was Ginny. He shoved that minor detail aside. "I saw you out of the Gryffindor common room window right before I cracked my head on it."

"Cracked...your head?" Sirius was getting paler by the second. Apparently he hadn't heard about that.

"I'm fine now," Harry said hastily, trying to cut off the flow of guilt that Sirius was obviously feeling, but it didn't help much. Sirius shook his head.

"It doesn't matter, I'm your bloody Godfather. I'm supposed to _know_ these things."

_Godfather?_ The word echoed around in Harry's head like a boomerang that never stopped flying. Why hadn't anyone told him? Granted, before now the idea wouldn't have been too pleasing, but the broken man in front of him was hardly the person anyone had painted him to be. He was still the man who had been his father's best friend, plus a twelve year stay with the dementors. Maybe all he needed was a little time, and he could be himself again.

"It's not your fault," Harry found himself saying. "It's Voldemort's. It always is."

Sirius shook his head. "It's not like that."

Harry took a breath, steadying himself and drawing on Ginny for comfort. She was just as out of sorts as he was, but somehow having her there helped. "Who killed my parents?"

Sirius looked up, shocked. However, his answer wasn't what Harry wanted or expected. "I did."

Harry felt Ginny start to take over the conversation for him, as she had a better idea how to handle this than he did. He felt like only a puppet, repeating her words as they came, but he didn't mind at all. "Because you changed Secret-Keepers."

Sirius nodded, too overcome with pain to speak.

"So it's not Peter's fault at all?"

"Of course it is!" Sirius exploded. "I would have rather died than betray James and Lily, and that _rat_ handed them over without even a fight!"

Harry, at Ginny's suggestion, simply raised his eyebrows and let the impact of Sirius's own words settle over the room. He had the grace to look ashamed of himself, but he still didn't look convinced.

"If you had the choice," Harry continued quietly, "Would you go back and be the Secret-Keeper?"

"Of course! I wish –"

Harry shook his head, feeling an odd sort of connection with Ginny. He no longer listened to her and did what she said, it was more of just knowing what she wanted and his body reacting. "That's all that matters. You couldn't have known Peter was working for Voldemort." Harry almost stopped there, because Ginny did, but he had one thing of his own to add. "I've failed a friend too. She was possessed by Voldemort for an entire year before I figured it out."

They were too lost in each other for Ginny to feel angry with him for blaming himself, but he did feel her resisting the statement. They almost instantly resolved to talk about it later, as Sirius was looking at Harry like he'd never seen him before. The older man managed to force out one word. "Possessed?"

Harry felt Ginny smile and guide his words once again. It was almost like she was speaking his feelings for him when he was too afraid to speak of them on his own, something he was both grateful for and apprehensive of. "Just because I'm at Hogwarts doesn't mean I don't need a godfather." And he did, desperately, as much as he wished Ginny wouldn't make him admit it. The Weasleys were great, but both he and Ginny understood that he needed a parental figure in his life, someone who could act as only a father or godfather could. Ginny knew because of her own relationship with her parents and how lost she would be without them, and Harry knew there was something missing from his life, something he'd always known should have been filled by his parents. Sirius wasn't James and Lily, but judging from tonight, he would make a fine substitute.

Even without Harry's feelings in mind, the look on Sirius's face was worth it. Something strange appeared there, as if the muscles weren't sure how to portray it since it hadn't been felt in a very long time, but something that was unmistakably hope. A flicker of life returned to those gray eyes, and for an instant, Sirius looked like James Potter's best man in a wedding nearly fifteen years ago, not a twelve year prisoner fresh from Azkaban.

And then his face fell once again. "I'm a wanted criminal Harry. I'm not in any position to be a friend, let alone a godfather."

Ginny was already moving when Harry spoke. "What if we captured Peter and proved that you're innocent? He's at The Burrow right now."

Again, Sirius shook his head. "He'll have heard the battle outside and ran."

"Wouldn't he come back once he realized you were gone?"

"Not once I'd taken you. He would know there's a chance that I could tell you the truth."

Harry sulked, but a slow grin was starting to form over Ginny's face. He sent her a questioning feeling.

_I just figured out why Scabbers kept getting out when Ron and I were younger. Dad finally had to put an unbreakable charm and lock on his cage to keep him inside. I guess I know why he did now._ Ginny shivered. _He'd go insane if he spent his entire life as a rat._

Harry knew that sharing this news would probably raise a few suspicions, but he didn't care. "I don't think Peter will be going anywhere."

Sirius tried to keep the hope from his eyes. "Why do you say that?"

"You can't kill him," Harry said, avoiding the question. "We need him to prove your innocence."

A laugh escaped Sirius, one that didn't cease after one harsh bark. "I doubt I could be a very good godfather from Azkaban anyway."

Harry smiled too and watched as Ginny forced her way into Ron's room amid protests from her brother. Sure enough, Scabbers was pacing around his cage and looking rather nervous, though Harry could have been placing those emotions on him with the knowledge that he was really human.

_What do we do now, _Ginny asked, now unsure of what she should tell Ron was so interesting about Scabbers that she had to keep an eye on him.

"Can you take me back now? I can bring Peter to you to make sure it's really him."

Sirius nodded agreeably. "That's probably best. And if you could, ask Rem –" He faltered. "Er, ask if someone can call Dumbledore. I know he'll at least listen."

"What about Professor Lupin?"

Sirius winced. "Nothing, I'd rather not bother him."

Harry shook his head. "He'd want to be there."

"How would you know that?"

"Because he wants to know you're innocent." Harry said simply.

The corners of Sirius's lips turned upward. "I suppose he would. But it can wait until tomorrow during the day. He's probably quite cranky at the moment." For whatever reason, the older man seemed to find this amusing.

"Okay..." Harry agreed without understanding. Sirius was the first one to stand, followed by Harry who took the proffered arm.

"Hold on to your knickers," Sirius grinned and turned slightly, causing them to disappear with a pop.

------

Harry crept up to The Burrow, trying to make his approach as quietly as possible. Sirius was in hiding, pretending to be a lovable stray once again about a block away, curled up in a bush. The transformation was the most amazing thing Harry hadn't seen, since it seemed like he'd blinked and where Sirius was, a large black dog had appeared. Up close, he didn't look nearly so frightening, and any residual fear of the Grim Harry had was quickly obliterated by a long tongue licking his hand.

He'd almost asked Ginny to come let him in quietly, but he didn't want her to leave Peter alone for even one second. Ron was becoming increasingly irritated with Ginny in his room for no apparent reason, just staring into space, but Ginny had threatened him with a particularly deadly piece of blackmail. At the moment, Harry thought Ron looked confused, as if he hadn't expected Ginny to pull out the big guns on something that seemed so small.

Harry had almost made it to the stairs when all hell broke loose. Molly had been in the kitchen, cleaning when he arrived, but something had caused her to look up and over toward where Harry now stood, frozen after he'd realized he was caught.

"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley bustled over and wrapped him in a fierce embrace. The rest of the house must have heard this call, because everyone seemed to come running for him. Everyone except one small little girl, who took advantage of the distraction to pick up a rat cage and sneak down to her room. Harry moved away from the stairs to help her, and she made it out her window and down to the lawn without being noticed. He tried in vain to ask to see Dumbledore, but no one seemed to want to listen to him, insisting that he was safe now and the guard around the house had been doubled. Ginny froze at this information and worked even harder to remain in the tall grass. She cursed her bright orange hair, something Harry would have found amusing under different circumstances.

Finally, he garnered enough attention so that Mr. Weasley heard his request to see Dumbledore, which prompted a quick Floo call to Hogwarts. Not two minutes later, the aged wizard greeted Harry with an interesting mix of joy at seeing him returned and something else that was less than positive.

"Professor? Can I speak with you alone?"

Dumbledore glanced around the room. "Certainly, Harry. Molly, would you –"

"You can use Bill's old room," Mrs. Weasley immediately replied, and showed them the way up the stairs. Neither Harry nor Dumbledore really needed to be told where to go, but it seemed she got some sort of comfort from providing them with accommodations. As soon as the door was shut, Dumbledore performed a series of charms that Harry had never heard of, causing the room to flash white, green, and then blue before returning to its normal state. The Headmaster then conjured a chair for himself and motioned Harry to Bill's old desk chair, which he took without a word. However, rather than waiting for Harry to speak, Dumbledore began himself.

"I must say Harry, that was one of the more ridiculous stunts I've heard of in my time."

Harry flushed pink and said nothing. He didn't particularly feel like offering and explanation, and Dumbledore hadn't explicitly asked for one.

"I was hoping to get the chance to speak with Mr. Black before he disappeared again, but it seems that after returning you, he has gone back into hiding. I had hoped that Mr. Shacklebolt and Ms. Jones would be able to capture him, but according to their accounts, you stepped into the line of fire and subsequently were taken hostage. Is this true?

Sort of. "Yes Professor." Ginny had now reached the general location that Harry had left Sirius. He tried to send her mental images of the place where he'd curled up to help her find him.

"Would you care to divulge what happened in the hour that you were in Mr. Black's custody?"

Harry wondered exactly how to put it. He was distracted for a moment when Ginny nearly jumped out of her skin after Sirius nudged her leg with his nose. In hindsight, it probably hadn't been a good idea for her to go out in the dark and alone, but things had happened so fast that Harry hadn't had a chance to think about it. "Sirius is innocent," he finally said.

"Is that so?" Dumbledore didn't seem particularly surprised by the news. "Discussions I've had with Professor Lupin have come to the same conclusion. Would you care to explain Mr. Black's side of the story?"

Harry shook his head. "There's something more important. We've found Peter and Sirius has him locked up until we figure out what to do. That's why I wanted to talk to you."

A very rare expression passed over Dumbledore's face at that moment, one of complete and utter shock. He quickly recovered, but Harry would never forget that half-second. "And Mr. Pettigrew is in Sirius's care?"

Care was hardly how he would have put it. "About a block away, actually." He made sure Ginny knew that Dumbledore would be coming soon, even if she couldn't tell Sirius. Through Ginny's eyes, he could see the hatred on Sirius's face as he glared at the rat formerly known as Scabbers.

"Would you care to lead me to him?" Dumbledore asked, though it wasn't phrased as a request. Harry felt a little irritated that the Headmaster expected him to do something simply because he'd been asked, but since that had been his plan the whole way, he couldn't exactly argue.

The trek back to Sirius's temporary hideout was silent and quick, with Dumbledore setting a rather brisk pace. It had taken a word from him to the rest of the Weasleys to keep them from following, but they stayed inside the house, much to their displeasure, especially Ron. Luckily, no one had noticed that Ginny was missing – they'd probably been too busy trying to eavesdrop on Harry's conversation with Dumbledore.

Ginny was visible first, causing the Headmaster to glance over at Harry with a complex look. Harry did his best to express nothing, and prepared for a mind assault that never came. Instead, Dumbledore just continued toward the flash of red and found Sirius as well as Peter in his cage sitting on the ground in front of Ginny. Sirius had his wand pointed at a very frightened looking rat, who kept trying to run away from the wand's point.

"Albus," Sirius nodded curtly. "I suppose this is where you discover the only thing James and I were ever able to keep from you."

Dumbledore's eyebrows raised as he glanced down at the rat. Comprehension was dawning in his eyes, but he waited patiently for Sirius to explain.

"I'm sure you know of a certain friend's problem. And I'm sure you can work out why being Animagi would help with this problem, considering he could use a few people close to him."

The Headmaster nodded. "I do believe I catch your drift. I offer my congratulations for accomplishing such an astounding feat for Hogwarts-aged children."

Sirius shook his head and ignored the praise. "He used the sewers to escape – blasted all the way down. He's been living with the Weasleys for the past twelve years."

Again, Dumbledore nodded. "He was the Secret-Keeper then?"

"Yes. It was my idea to switch. That's why Lily didn't tell you when they went into hiding."

"It was a sound plan, had Mr. Pettigrew not been the spy."

Sirius looked as though he had other thoughts on that, but he kept them to himself. "So what do we do now?"

Dumbledore peered at Peter while he drew his wand, whispering one of the spells that Harry had heard not ten minutes ago when securing Bill's bedroom. Sirius nodded in approval. "Impeccable, as always."

Harry could have sworn Dumbledore's eyes twinkled before he turned to look at Ginny, who was still standing in the same position as when Harry and Dumbledore arrived on the scene. "Might I inquire as to how Miss Weasley became involved?" Sirius looked as though he'd like the answer to that too. Harry was at a loss for how to explain things, but Ginny snapped out of her trance and spoke smoothly, though unsure of how to refer to the rat.

"Harry couldn't get Sca-Peter out without my family noticing, so I snuck out my window to bring it."

"And how did you know that was Harry's intention?"

Ginny smiled and lied smoother than Harry had ever seen her; for a moment, he almost believed her even though he knew for a fact she was lying. "Harry told me to. He distracted everyone by just walking in, and I snuck out while no one was looking. Really Professor, owls are dead useful."

The only problem being that Sirius knew there wasn't an owl, and therefore knew Ginny was lying. Dumbledore bought it, but Harry caught Sirius throwing half-curious, half-amazed look at Ginny before schooling his expression. Harry thanked him for that; he wouldn't put it past Dumbledore to question them here and now about things that would be hard to answer.

"A job very well done by all three of you. Sirius, I recommend that you stay hidden for at least another hour, until I have had the chance to talk to Molly and Arthur myself. It would be quite a shock to them if you showed up at their back door for an after dinner snack, your innocence notwithstanding."

Sirius smiled and nodded. "I think I can do that. After all, twelve years in Azkaban makes the last six months almost seem like paradise."

A pained expression crossed the Headmaster's usually cheerful face, but it was gone as soon as Harry noticed it. "Mr. Potter and Miss Weasley, if you would allow me to escort you back to The Burrow, I would like to be off as soon as possible."

Harry and Ginny both nodded, too overwhelmed to speak. The past hour was finally catching up to them and it was all barely making sense. It seemed like so long since they'd been enjoying Quidditch out in the last few minutes of light before dusk, their noses and cheeks pink from the cold. Harry shed his cloak and offered it to Ginny, who'd left in such a hurry that she hadn't thought to grab something to keep her warm. After feeling to make sure he was warm enough, she accepted it and wrapped it about her shoulders as they followed Dumbledore back to The Burrow.

------

The greeting that Harry and Ginny received was understandable, given their circumstances of disappearance. Molly had been ready to ream into Ginny, but a quick word from Dumbledore held off that lecture and caused her an Arthur to follow the Headmaster into Bill's bedroom. The Weasley brothers immediately rounded on Harry and Ginny, expecting answers to all their questions. Harry gave them nothing.

"Dumbledore can explain it better than I can," Harry said, staring straight at Ron as he spoke and giving his eyes a flick toward the ceiling. "You should wait for him to tell you." He was tired of keeping things from his best mate, and this was going to be different. He pushed between Fred and George on his way up the stairs, feeling slightly guilty at being so cold, but it was the only way he could think to shake them off. Or rather, that Ginny knew would shake them off.

Luckily, Ron took the hint and met Harry in the fifth floor bedroom almost immediately and shut the door. Harry wished he could perform magic to lock the door, but he didn't want to draw any more attention from the Ministry, given who would be happening by the house in about an hour. Instead, Ginny kept an eye on the twins and Percy for him, generally sticking her nose where it didn't belong and being a perfect little sister.

"Sirius is innocent," Harry began, noting the doubtful look on Ron's face that began to form. "My mum and dad switched Secret-Keepers right at the end to try and fool Voldemort, but it didn't work. One of my dad's other best friends, Peter, betrayed them."

Ron shrugged. "He still killed all those Muggles, and all they found of Pettigrew after Black had finished with him was a finger."

Harry shook his head, trying not to get frustrated at Ron's closed-mindedness. "That's what it looked like, but Peter actually killed them. He blew a hole in the ground so he could escape from the sewers when Sirius cornered him and was going to kill him for betraying my parents."

Ron stared at Harry incredulously. "And you believed that load of bollocks? Muggle pipes don't expand like ours do. He couldn't fit."

"Peter is an Animagus." At Ron's blank look, he explained. "He can turn into a rat."

Ron rolled his eyes and didn't even bother answering. He obviously thought Harry was being misled. Harry would have too, if Dumbledore didn't agree with Sirius.

"Did Scabbers have a missing toe?" Harry already knew from Ginny that he did, but Ron's reaction was priceless. He opened his mouth to deny it, but then he realized that he was wrong and froze.

"Wait, you think that _Scabbers_ is Peter?! You're mad!"

Harry shrugged. "Sirius identified him and Dumbledore agreed. Sirius is actually a block down the road, waiting for everything to be explained."

"Sirius...here...?" Ron looked as though he was about to faint. Harry thought about sparing him the biggest news (in his mind), but something nagged at him not to keep secrets.

"And he's my godfather."

Predictably, Ron's jaw dropped like a stone. "God...father?" His complexion had turned pale as he tried to process all of this information. Harry let him have a minute to think in peace, watching as his best mate slowly came to terms with everything. Finally, Ron summed it all up in one sentence.

"Your family is weird."

Both Harry and Ginny burst out laughing, especially after Ginny noted that it was coming from a Weasley. Even so, Harry felt a hundred times lighter at the words _your family_, simply because he actually had a family to speak of. Granted, it was only himself and Sirius, but that was a million times better than just being alone.

"I suppose we'll have to write Hermione," Ron said finally. Harry hadn't even considered that, but he was right. He couldn't even imagine how to go about explaining everything that had happened in a letter, and no doubt she would want to know every single detail. His brow creased over in thought until Ron interrupted him. "I'll tell her when I write her back, don't worry about it."

Harry looked up, intrigued. "You got a letter from Hermione?" Ginny seemed very interested in the answer as well. Harry spied a rather thick looking stack of parchment on Ron's desk that was either Hermione's letter or Harry would give up magic for a month. It certainly wasn't homework. Ron's ears turned pink after following Harry's gaze.

"Well, yeah. She just wrote for Christmas. You didn't get one?"

Harry shook his head, feeling a little hurt. Why would Hermione have written Ron and not him?

_Someone's jealous,_ Ginny teased in a sing-song voice. Harry gave her the equivalent of a light mental smack, which only served to make her giggle even more. He knew he shouldn't acknowledge her when she sounded like that, but he couldn't help it.

"It would probably be better if you told her anyway," Harry pouted. He felt Ginny's amusement and knew she wouldn't let him forget this moment of jealousy for ages, but he couldn't help but feel like Hermione had left him out on purpose. Maybe it had something to do with why Ron was acting more like himself these days; at least if that was the case, then he could feel a little better about it.

An awkward silence had fallen over the room after Harry's statement, in which the two boys sat staring into space, each with their own thoughts on their mind. Well, Harry's thoughts were half of Ginny's mental speech, but he'd long since given up convincing the voice in his head to go away. Somehow, he'd feel empty without it anyway.

It was probably forty-five minutes later when Mrs. Weasley came to get them from Ron's bedroom. She had a pale sort of look on, one that matched her youngest son's color when Harry had spilled the beans.

"I assume you've told Ron?" She asked Harry, who nodded. "He'll be here in five minutes." She didn't look particularly pleased with the idea of hosting a supposed murderer in her house, but she didn't voice these opinions to Harry and Ron, who followed her down the stairs. Everyone else was already in the living room, fidgeting nervously and glancing around as if they expected to be attacked at any moment. Harry wondered exactly how much everyone knew, but he supposed they would find out what they didn't know soon enough.

He sat down on the couch next to Ron, which filled it to capacity, but that didn't stop Ginny. She moved from the chair she was sitting in to sit under Harry's feet, draping his legs over her shoulders. She wanted to sit on his lap and wrap her arms around him, and told him so, but Harry was grateful she didn't give in to the impulse.

A light knock came on the door, though it might as well have been Hagrid beating the wall in considering how much everyone jumped. Even Harry was a little tense, not because Sirius was coming, but because he wanted the meeting to go well. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that his godfather would be a huge figure in his life from now on, and he wanted the Weasleys to like him.

Mrs. Weasley opened the door, slowly, to reveal both Dumbledore and Sirius standing and waiting patiently. Dumbledore looked as though he was merely stopping by for afternoon tea, but the apprehension on Sirius's face was more than enough for the both of them. No wands were drawn, which was a good thing, Harry thought as he rose and headed over to greet the pair.

"Where's Peter?"

Dumbledore stepped inside at Mrs. Weasley's request, followed hesitantly by Sirius. Harry noticed that his godfather looked almost as nervous as the Weasleys did, as if he expected some sort of trap. This wasn't the case, of course, but Sirius couldn't know that for sure.

"He is in Ministry custody, for the moment," Dumbledore finally answered with a worried expression. "I do not know how long he will remain so."

"What? Why would they let him go?" Harry's eyes flashed to Sirius, who must have already heard the news, because he didn't react at all.

"Other than the fact that Mr. Pettigrew is indeed alive and is an illegal Animagus, there is no evidence to support the true version of events. I would imagine that he will be forced to register with the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and fined heavily for his transgressions, but other than that, I doubt he will suffer any sort of retribution."

Harry felt a huge weight sink on top of his chest. "There has to be something we can do."

Dumbledore smiled sadly. "I'm afraid not, Harry. The only crime of Mr. Pettigrew's we have proof of is conspiracy to murder, and the only evidence we have of that currently has a Kiss order placed upon him. Mr. Pettigrew also has the immunities that an Order of Merlin bestows, preventing more invasive measures of questioning."

The seriousness of the situation seemed to sink over the room as everyone's eyes turned to Sirius. Harry wished Dumbledore hadn't brought up that particular point, but it didn't seem like anyone was ready to kick him out of the house, yet

"Unfortunately, murder of Muggles is still an Azkaban punishable crime, so therefore the dementors will continue to search for Sirius."

"So why have you brought him here?" Mr. Weasley asked quietly, without accusation, but there was still an undercurrent of uncertainty in his voice.

"I believe that Sirius could use a place to stay for the night; it's been more than twelve years since he has had the comforts of a warm bed or full meal. Was I correct counting upon your hospitality?"

"Yes, of course," Mrs. Weasley answered. "He can use Bill's room."

"Albus, perhaps this isn't such a good idea." Sirius coughed to clear his throat. "I don't want to endanger them, or Harry, any more than I already have."

"Nonsense," Mrs. Weasley said in a tone that brooked no argument. "You'll catch your death out there, it's freezing."

Sirius opened his mouth to protest, but Mrs. Weasley had already hurried into the kitchen where pots and pans could be heard preparing a meal. This brought a smile to most of the faces in the room, all of whom knew it would be pointless to refuse such an offer from Molly Weasley.

The next hour was a blur for Harry, in which Dumbledore left to see about the business with Peter, Sirius took a rather long shower and was fed, and Ginny tried to comfort him and tell him that everything would work out. He didn't believe her, of course, but he knew she wouldn't feel right if she didn't try. Once he'd sat down again, she'd curled up at his side and rested her head on his shoulder, simply laying her presence against his and keeping him from spiraling into another bout of depression.

Curiously absent was Ron, who Harry had expected to be there, regardless of anything else. Ginny had gotten up and found her brother in his room, writing, but even her suggestion that he was writing to Hermione didn't cheer him up. Ginny was wonderful in a lot of ways, but even she couldn't fill a void meant for a man's best mate, no matter how hard she tried to convince him that Ron's actions didn't mean anything. Harry felt otherwise, like the closer he got to Ginny the farther he got from Ron. He was glad Hermione had picked up the slack, so to speak, but that didn't make him feel any better about the situation.

"Hey kiddo," Sirius said as he walked into the room and glanced down at Harry and Ginny. Harry almost wanted to push Ginny off of him and pretend they hadn't been sharing a close moment, but he was starting to get used to the idea of people knowing he was close to Ginny in a way that he wasn't with anyone else. At least the Weasleys anyway, and Sirius. It would be a little different when they got back to Hogwarts.

Sirius looked loads better after a shower and a simple meal. He still looked like he needed to gain about twenty pounds, and his expression was still wary and alert from six months on the run, but other than that he looked like a normal human being. Someone had given him a quick and simple haircut, no doubt Mrs. Weasley and her endless supply of useful household charms. He'd taken the time to shave his face clean and scrub out the dirt stains from his hands before donning a robe that had been transfigured from one of Mr. Weasleys.

"You look nice," Ginny said, when Harry couldn't figure out quite how to respond. Sirius glanced down at Ginny and grinned, his voice taking on a tone that was closer to that of his Hogwarts days.

"I clean up quite nicely for such pleasant company, Miss Weasley." He winked and Ginny giggled softly as he plopped down in a chair across from her and Harry.

"I suppose I like this a bit better than the last time we met," Ginny responded with an impish grin of her own. Sirius's face went from confusion to sad realization in a half second.

"Er, sorry about that." He squirmed uncomfortably.

Ginny laughed. "I think it scared Harry more than it did me. No hard feelings?"

"Sure." Sirius glanced up at Harry, who was content to let Sirius and Ginny have their exchange. At least they got along all right, even if no one else did. "So you two want to tell me how you really pulled that off?"

Both Harry and Ginny adopted innocent expressions. "Owls aren't good enough for you?" Ginny asked, even though both she and Harry knew he wasn't going to fall for it.

"Unless Harry knows how to conjure a magical owl, which can't be done, then no."

_We can't tell him, _Harry said, which Ginny quickly agreed with. If he wasn't going to tell Ron, then he certainly wasn't going to tell someone he'd known for a few hours, regardless of his relationship to him. Neither Harry nor Ginny knew what to say to throw him off, so Harry finally just gave up.

"It's a trade secret," he said, using an expression that the twins often used to hide things. Sirius stared at him for a moment, and then laughed a good and hearty laugh.

"James used to say that all the time to Lily when she knew he'd done something but wasn't sure how he'd done it. Drove her up the wall fifth and sixth year because she could never write him up for detention."

Harry smiled and remembered a few of the stories that Lupin had told him about his mum and dad. That seemed about right, given that their relationship had been a lot like Ron and Hermione's.

"So how much exactly do you know about me?" Harry asked, curious. He tried not to sound accusatory, but he couldn't help but feel a little miffed at being stalked.

"Enough to know that this," Sirius gestured between him and Ginny, "Is something new."

Both Harry and Ginny flushed pink, though Harry in embarrassment and Ginny in pride. "He finally realized the inevitable," Ginny said, giving Harry a playful poke with her finger. "He's a bit stubborn."

Sirius grinned. "I wouldn't have expected any less. So how'd you two meet?"

Harry glanced at Ginny and they both smiled painfully, thinking of the Chamber incident. Harry almost got out his mental protest before Ginny spoke.

_Gin –_

"Harry had to kill a basilisk to save me from Voldemort," she said, cheerfully. Sirius paled in a matter of moments, his eyes bouncing between the two of them and searching for some clue that Ginny wasn't serious.

"A...basilisk?"

Harry glared down at Ginny for bringing it up, but she didn't seem fazed. He supposed it was a good thing that she'd learned to talk about it without getting depressed and lapsing into self-deprication, but he wasn't sure _he _wanted to talk about it.

Unfortunately, one thing led to another, and eventually Sirius began to look at Harry with a reverence that was a little disconcerting. Ginny explained everything she knew about him, forcing him to correct her when she was wrong or didn't know something. Sirius seemed especially interested in Harry's Quidditch feats, and was ecstatic to learn that Harry had already made the House team as starting Seeker. At times, Sirius would interject with stories about James and (less often) Lily, comparing Harry to each of them and always in a positive light. After a while, the term _Harry Potter Fan Club_ ran through Harry's mind again, on this time it was Sirius and Ginny as the founding members, rather than Ginny and Colin Creevey. The one thing that Ginny did have the courtesy to stay away from (or didn't want to talk about) was Harry's time at the Dursleys. Sirius asked where he lived during the summer, but that subject had been quickly dropped after an uncomfortable aura settled in the room. Even if the conversation had continued, Ginny didn't know much and Harry wasn't about to offer information.

An hour or so later, Mrs. Weasley came in to usher Harry to bed and looked surprised to find Ginny as well. No one had interrupted their conversation with Sirius, which left Harry with the feeling that Mrs. Weasley had told the rest of her kids to leave them in peace. He said good night to Sirius with a awkward embrace, and then headed up to Ron's room. The redhead was pretending to be asleep – Harry could tell by the uneven breathing – but he didn't ask. Instead, he simply crawled into bed and _dreamed_.

------

"Where are we?" Harry asked, confused. This time there was no searching for Ginny; he'd found her right in his arms as the dream had set over him. The feeling was familiar – he knew he was dreaming and that this couldn't possibly be real, but it was very convincing and every sense told him everything was real. It was dawn and the pale pink rays of sunlight were beginning to wash over them and the grassy field they lay in, painting a beautiful picture in the sky against the tree line. Harry couldn't quite place it, but he felt as though the setting was familiar.

Ginny turned her head to look at him, their noses almost touching. Harry had to fight the urge to back away. "It's the Quidditch pitch behind The Burrow. You don't recognize it?"

Now that she pointed it out, he did. But it looked different, a touch better kept, and larger, as if someone came though on a regular basis and kept the plants from overgrowing it. "Sort of."

Ginny turned to look in the direction of the broomshed, where Harry could just make out a tiny figure creeping out with what looked like a huge broom in its hands. "We're in one of my memories."

As the figure came closer, Harry realized the broom wasn't huge, the child carrying it was just very small. He almost immediately recognized her as a younger version of Ginny. She had to be about five or six, running as fast as she could toward the pitch and out of sight of the house. As soon as she was satisfied, she mounted the broom and took off, only to find herself plowed into the dirt after less than ten meters. The real Ginny giggled as she watched, causing Harry to smile as well.

"That was the first time I'd ever tried to ride a real broom. Dad let me ride those little kid brooms when I was younger, but they're nothing compared to a real one."

Harry watched as little Ginny tried again, this time going slower and gaining a little height before taking off. She was barely able to turn in time to avoid the trees, giving Harry a vague feeling of discomfort and protectiveness. Older Ginny snuggled against him, smiling.

"I don't get hurt, you don't have to worry."

"I know," Harry said before he realized what he was saying. Ginny looked up at him curiously, and if Harry had been able to, he would have done the same thing. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he could imagine the rest of Ginny's memory as if it was real.

"You're going to fall off here," Harry said absently, and sure enough, in a sharp turn to avoid the tree line again, younger Ginny rolled off the broom and fell to the ground where she rolled and laughed, lying on her back for a moment before standing up and running over to the broom again.

"How did you know that?" Ginny asked, still staring at him. Before he could answer, the scene shifted, becoming a much more urban setting. Harry and Ginny found themselves standing together at the back of a classroom as a bell rang, causing most of the students to stand and run for the door. One, however, packed slowly and carefully, seeming unconcerned with the time. Ginny looked up at Harry as they both recognized the familiar black mop that never seemed to lie flat. Harry felt his stomach lurch, wishing that Ginny didn't have to see this. He would never forget this day for the rest of his life.

"It's all right Harry, it's just a memory." Her hand rubbed his back gently, but as much comfort as that gave him, he shook his head.

"I don't want you to see this."

Ginny sighed as young Harry rose from his seat. "I don't think I have a choice."

"I know."

Young Harry trooped up to the front of the classroom and was halfway out the door when the older woman at the front of the class called for him. He turned, traces of fear in his wide eyes, which at this point were still spectacle-free. He didn't speak; it seemed like was afraid to after walking over and bowing his head slightly at the teacher.

"Harry, this is really good work." She held a writing project they had been assigned for homework. Harry had spent long hours in his cupboard thinking about it, probably too much time, given the situation. The topic had been,_ If you could be anyone you wanted to be, who would you pick?_

Young Harry simply nodded and glanced at the door, as if there was nothing more important than leaving.

"You are very smart for a boy your age. How would you feel about moving up a grade and learning things that you don't ready know?"

"I don't want to." His voice was tiny and a ghost of what it was now, almost like the difference between night and day. Ginny had never heard Harry sound so small or weak, or thought it possible.

"You don't want to?" This seemed to puzzle the teacher. "But aren't you bored in this class?"

Young Harry shook his head. "No Miss Beckett. I like it here."

That was a lie and both Harry and Ginny knew it, and apparently so did Miss Beckett. "You don't have to be afraid of being smart, Harry."

Young Harry looked up at her with young and innocent eyes, ones that made Ginny cling to Harry and feel dreadful. Her reaction to the memory was far more depressing than the actual memory to him; he'd come to terms with his life before Hogwarts, but he didn't want anyone else to have to. Harry remembered exactly what he'd been thinking at the moment. He'd been wishing he wasn't smart, that everything would just go away and he could be stupid like Dudley, and then maybe his aunt and uncle wouldn't treat him so bad.

"If that's really what you want, then I can't make you learn."

Harry nodded, relief passing over his young face. "Thank you Miss Beckett."

"I'll see you tomorrow Harry," the teacher said, clearly conflicted. Young Harry nodded and nearly ran out the door in his haste to get away from the awful situation. Older Harry remembered one more thought as the dream began to fade.

_Maybe if I act stupid, maybe they'll think I'm stupid and treat me like everyone else._

------

Harry awoke with a start the next morning, and for a brief moment, he felt no different than he had the night before. However, the second he thought about the dream, a flood of emotions poured over him, ones that were neither his nor Ginny's but still very familiar. After a moment, he realized he was feeling the emotions connected with Ginny's memory, the glee she'd felt at her first broom ride, her shock at how fast the broom had gone, the laughter that had come from her as she plowed into the ground, and the pure joy of flying. He understood that perfectly; she got the same feeling from flying that he did, the ecstasy that came from the wind in his face and nothing but a broom and air between him and the ground.

_Harry?_

Ginny's voice cut into his thoughts and almost immediately he realized she was crying. It was muffled in her hearing because her face was buried into her pillow, but he could feel the sadness and sorrow inside of her as if he was feeling it himself. He realized with a distinct sort of horror that if he was feeling everything she had during the memory, she must be feeling everything _he_ had. That was altogether worse than simply witnessing the events. She would know that then and there he'd resolved to be average, doing well enough in school to not be held back but not much more. For a moment, he wondered if she knew how he'd purposefully missed questions just to lower his scores on every test, and if she remembered Miss Beckett asking if there was anything wrong because he wasn't doing as well in school.

_I'm so sorry,_ she whispered. She was longing for something, and it didn't take Harry long to realize she wanted to change things for him, to go back and do something to make his life better. This was why he'd never shared his childhood with her, and casually avoided any conversation about anything before age eleven, no matter what it was about.

_It's just a memory,_ he reminded her, repeating her words. They helped her about as much as they'd helped him – that is to say, relatively little. He heard her sniff and let another wave of tears into her pillow. He hadn't a clue how to handle the situation other than attempt to send her reassuring feelings that were rather ineffective.

Seeing that Ron was still asleep, Harry made his way down to the loo to shower and get ready for breakfast. Ginny didn't want to move, so he didn't bother her and simply sat next to her mind-self, holding her hand as he showered. It was a bit disconcerting to be in two places at once, but he eventually managed it and made his way down the stairs to the kitchen, feeling refreshed. It was still a little odd having Mrs. Weasley prepare all the meals for him while he was away from Hogwarts, but he knew better than to offer to help. He'd learned that very quickly the first morning after being shooed from the kitchen by an irate Mrs. Weasley and laughed at by a very amused Ginny.

Sirius was already at the table enjoying a cup of tea. His face brightened as Harry entered the room, causing Harry to return his smile and sit across from him.

"Sleep well?" Sirius asked.

Harry wasn't quite sure how to answer that question. He felt refreshed and his body was fine, but his mind was still on Ginny, who was just now sitting up and attempting to come to terms with things. Her reaction seemed a bit strong, but judging from how he'd felt, it wasn't surprising. The joy of a first broom ride was something Harry had felt before; the despair of a hated child was completely new to Ginny. It was one thing to know his childhood hadn't been the best, but it was something completely different to feel it firsthand.

"Pretty good," he finally replied. "I suppose I should be asking you that question."

Sirius chuckled. "Beats a cold rock."

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "What are you going to do now?"

He shrugged and took another sip of tea. "I don't know. I'll probably go spend some time on the continent to get the security lifted from Hogwarts, and then keep an eye on Peter when they release him."

"When they release him?" Harry felt a dull sort of anger rise at the very thought. The expression on Sirius's face matched how he was feeling.

"He's going to get a month in Azkaban for being an unregistered Animagus, but after that he'll be free."

Harry picked up a fork that had been set out in preparation for breakfast and started picking at the table. It just wasn't fair – he finally had someone who might actually be something close to family, and he had to hide from the Ministry even though he was innocent. The injustice of it was infuriating.

At that point Percy came down and halted the conversation and generally made things uncomfortable. Harry could tell that the Weasley brother didn't quite believe Sirius's innocence and kept one eye on him just in case something was to happen. Either Sirius didn't notice or didn't care, because he didn't react to it at all.

Ginny was next, followed by the twins and eventually Ron in the next fifteen minutes. Ginny took her customary seat by Harry, but even after a shower, she still looked distraught. Their hands met by mutual consent under the table with Ginny grasping as tight as her smaller hand could manage. She had to let go to eat, since they were both right-handed, but he could feel the reluctance all the same.

Everyone had just begun to clean up when Hedwig soared in through the window and landed on Harry's shoulder gracefully. There was only one roll of parchment, and a small one at that. It was addressed to Ron.

"Er...I hope you don't mind if I used Hedwig," Ron said sheepishly. "She's faster than Errol."

Harry didn't mind, he'd told Ron at Hogwarts that he was welcome to her at any time. Harry tossed Ron the parchment and gave Hedwig some scraps from the table before the snowy owl made the short hop to perch herself on the ledge of the window. By the time she'd tucked her head under her wing to doze off, Ron had disappeared up the stairs.

"Who was that from?" Mrs. Weasley asked, trying to sound uninterested. Harry saw right through it, but he pretended not to notice.

"Hermione."

"Oh." She was quiet after that, but Sirius had no reservations on speaking his mind.

"Sounds like Ron's got himself a lady friend." He waggled his eyebrows at Harry, who laughed. The idea of Ron and Hermione together was laughable, though it seemed less and less impossible these days. Fred and George (who were on kitchen duty thanks to their mother) sniggered as well.

"Really Sirius, they're too young for that sort of thing," Mrs. Weasley said, though it didn't look as though she believed it. Harry wondered if she'd known Sirius before now, because they were on a first name basis rather quickly.

"Fourteen the age where the girls started to give in to their attraction to me," Sirius replied with a roguish smile that belonged to someone ten years younger.

"Ron isn't fourteen." Mrs. Weasley retorted stubbornly.

"But Hermione is," Sirius said with a smirk. Mrs. Weasley harrumphed and moved into the kitchen without responding. Everyone's eyes bounced to him, shocked. Molly Weasley didn't give in to a verbal match of wits that easily. "What?"

Fred was the first to speak. "How do you know how old Hermione is?"

At least he had the courtesy to look embarrassed. "I thought it might be a good idea to know who Harry's friends are."

"How though? You couldn't just ask someone." For some reason, Fred seemed really interested in the answer, and understandably, Sirius wasn't ready to give it.

"Trade secret," Sirius grinned and handed Fred the last plate off the table. "Seven years at Hogwarts teaches you a bit about secret passages."

Fred and George shared a look before glancing back at Sirius suspiciously. "But you haven't been on the grounds all year. We've been watching for you."

Sirius glanced up sharply. "You have?" Suddenly, Harry got the feeling that this conversation wasn't about Hermione anymore.

After a moment of silence, George dropped the plates he was holding, which shattered all over the kitchen floor. Mrs. Weasley came running in to find everyone staring at him while he stared at Sirius with a dumbfounded expression.

"George!"

He seemed to break out of a trance and notice that he was no longer holding anything. "Sorry Mum!"

Nobody moved as Sirius and Mrs. Weasley combined wands to make sure every last bit of the ceramics was put in the rubbish bin. George stared at Sirius the entire way, as if he was just realizing that they were providing refuge to a supposed mass murderer. He waited until Mrs. Weasley headed back into the kitchen before speaking again.

"You're an Animagus too, aren't you?"

Sirius froze. He'd almost made it to the stairs when George's words stopped him. He turned back slowly and hung his head, sighing. "I don't suppose there's any point in denying it."

Comprehension began to dawn on Fred's face as he picked up on whatever his twin was getting at. Ginny and Harry and Ginny were both completely lost at this point.

"Your secret is safe with us, Mr. Padfoot."

The look on Sirius's face made the entire room chuckle. He stood frozen, his eyes bouncing between Fred and George with a borderline awe. He looked over at Mrs. Weasley. "Have you been giving your kids intelligence potions or something?"

Mrs. Weasley tried to look offended at the idea. "Of course not."

Sirius glanced back at the triumphant faces of the twins. "Where did you hear that name?"

Fred glanced at George, who nodded slightly. "Oh, just on a bit of old ratty parchment."

Sirius's face broke out into a huge grin, after which he laughed. Harry wasn't sure what was so funny, but it looked as though someone had told Sirius the biggest joke since the beginning of time. Eventually, he calmed enough to explain things.

"Have you worked out the other three yet?"

A look of distaste crossed Fred's face. "Wormtail was pretty obvious. Haven't got a clue about Prongs and Moony yet though."

Sirius glanced at Harry, that outrageous grin still on his face. "Harry might."

Fred and George gave Harry a suspicious look. "What's he got to do with it?"

_Your dad and Lupin, _Ginny whispered in his head. _Four Animagi_. She sounded in awe. _I haven't a clue where Fred and George heard those names though._

"Everything," Sirius replied to the twins.

"My dad and Professor Lupin, but I don't know which was which," Harry said, catching on to Ginny's line of thinking. His dad had three best friends in school, and all of them had been Animagi, which with Sirius's admission to being Padfoot, connected the four to the names. Wormtail was a rat, Padfoot was a dog, but Harry hadn't a clue what Prongs and Moony could stand for.

_My dad was named one of those..._

"I'll leave that for you to figure out," Sirius said. "But what I want to know is how you two," he gestured at Fred and George, "Got the Map, and connected me to it." The twins immediately glanced at the kitchen, where pots and pans could be heard cleaning themselves. Sirius didn't miss the implication of who might overhear their story. "Perhaps another time then?" he asked hopefully.

"Sounds good to us," George said.

"Anything for a Marauder," Fred added gleefully as he finished clearing the table.

------

Sirius left soon after breakfast, claiming that he didn't want to draw any attention to the Weasleys if someone figured out that he was there. Fred and George seemed very disappointed, making Harry wonder what Map Sirius was talking about, but he supposed he could ask Professor Lupin when he got back to Hogwarts. After his godfather was gone, Harry's mood fell into something that wasn't quite morose, but he wasn't happy either. He and Ginny sat together on the sitting room sofa, each lost in their own thoughts.

Mrs. Weasley came in to check on them every once in a while, but nobody really said anything and they were pretty much undisturbed. The train back to Hogwarts would be leaving in four days Sunday morning, which meant things were starting to get packed and the holiday spirit was drawing to a close. The rest of the break was spent much in the same way as the hours after Sirius's departure were, in deep thought or outside in the shortened daylight hours enjoying a spot of Quidditch. Harry made a conscious effort to spend more time with Ron and not just focus on Ginny, which seemed to be received well. Harry supposed that it came with the territory of having more than two friends that he spent every waking moment with, but that didn't make things any easier. He wasn't sure why Ron didn't seem to return his friendship as easily as before, but maybe Hermione would be able to shed some light on that subject.

Sunday morning finally came and the Weasleys piled into a rented car to head to King's Cross, barely making it on the train before it made its way back to Hogwarts. Sirius still hadn't written, but Harry assumed that he was on the run and probably couldn't find an owl to use for correspondence. He hoped that was the case, though always at the back of his mind was the fear that the Ministry had caught up to him. He'd taken to checking the paper every morning, but no news was good news in this case, and there had been none. Peter's reappearance had been kept quiet at the rat's own wishes, though there had been a small article about it in the middle of the _Prophet_ that had caused quite a stir. Fortunately, Dumbledore hadn't released the circumstances around his reappearance, so nothing about the Weasleys or Harry had been published. Of course, neither had Dumbledore's insistence that Peter conspired to the murders of James and Lily Potter.

The train station was hectic as usual, though seeing Hermione again cheered Harry up quite a bit. There was a bit of awkwardness between her and Ron for a moment, but it looked more like they weren't sure how to react to each other than anything else. Harry marked it down as another odd occurrence surrounding them and didn't pay much attention. Ginny had her own theories, which Harry guessed weren't far off from Sirius's, but he didn't think she was right about that.

Finally, the four of them were able to settle down in their compartment and rest as the train began to make its way back to Hogwarts. Hermione's eyes bounced from Harry to Ginny, and then finally when she couldn't stand it any longer, her question burst out of her.

"So tell me everything!"

Harry, Ron, and Ginny shared an amused look, after which Harry looked at his watch. "Sorry Ginny." The youngest redhead grumbled and handed Ron one shiny Knut, causing Hermione to gape at them.

"What was that for?"

Ginny and Ron looked up like they'd been caught with their hand in the cookie jar, looking so much like siblings that Harry had to laugh as he answered. "Ron and Ginny had a bet on how long it would take you to ask. Ron won."

"And how long did you think it would take me," Hermione asked, her tone turning into that of the prissy know-it-all that had become a running gag between Harry and Ron at times. However, Ron wasn't about to laugh when her fury was narrowed right at him.

"Ginny said you wouldn't last longer than twenty seconds once you sat down. I, er, told her it wouldn't even be ten, and she took that bet."

Hermione raised her eyebrows, but didn't say anything more to Ron, though she turned up her nose in a way that only she could pull off without looking like an idiot. "Well?" She asked, turning back to Harry and Ginny.

Harry groaned and spent the next twenty minutes explaining every detail about his encounter with Sirius, wincing at the sharp reprimand she gave him for stepping into the middle of a live duel. Harry guessed she'd been waiting a week to rail into him about that, because she looked quite a bit more relaxed after she did. When he was done, she sat in silence for a good five seconds before saying anything.

"So does this mean he'll be coming to visit?"

Harry smiled wistfully. "I wish. He's going off somewhere on the continent to try and get the security lifted from the school."

"Well that's good of him."

Harry nodded and was about to ask about her break when Neville poked his head in and asked if there was room. They invited him in and he sat down next to Ginny, effectively silencing any talk about Sirius or other sensitive issues for the duration of the ride. Nevertheless, the trip back to Hogwarts was enjoyable and though Harry had been sad to leave The Burrow, he was happy to be going back to the only place he'd called home. Before Sirius had told him of his plans, Harry had hoped that he would be able to live with his godfather over the summers, but now he wasn't sure where he was going to go, because the Dursleys wouldn't be taking him back after he'd blown up Aunt Marge. But he could worry about that later; at the moment, he was with his three best friends on the way up to Hogwarts, which looked rather magnificent decorated in a thin layer of white snow.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** As always, thanks to my wonderful beta, **Sinister Dei.** The story wouldn't make nearly as much sense without him. _:D 

_I'd also like to thank my reviewers, both old and new. You guys are an inspiration that can't be duplicated anywhere else._

_**Author's Note Revisited:** Sigh. I suppose I'm going to have to clarify this, even though Dumbledore explains in the chapter. Peter can't be tested via Veritaserum because of the Order of Merlin that is attached to his name. It's an example of the corruption of the Ministry, which will become more of a factor later in the story. Also, Veritaserum isn't usable in trials, otherwise they would just force feed it to every supposed criminal. Seems like a violation of human rights if you ask me. There has to be a way around it, otherwise Snape wouldn't be able to be in Voldemort's ranks for so long - it seems like a very Voldemort thing to do to test his inner circle's loyalty with drugs._


	17. Truth

**Seventeen: Truth**

The first week of term back at Hogwarts was remarkably happy for Harry, and as far as he could tell, his three best friends thought the same thing. The business with Sirius and Peter was far from over, but it was a tremendous relief for Harry not to worry about being attacked by a man who obviously knew how to slip into the school undetected and seemingly had no problems moving through the dementors. Before he'd left, Sirius had assured Harry that he would be in touch and they would be able to communicate on a semi-regular basis, but he didn't say exactly how or when this would happen.

Even Double Potions on Thursday wasn't much trouble – in fact, Snape seemed to be continuing with his streak of ignoring Harry altogether. The first thing that disrupted Harry's new sense of relaxation was, unusually enough, Hermione on a chilly Sunday morning while Ron was gathering his books for the day's work.

"So you two have been quite cozy lately," Hermione said slyly, giving Harry and Ginny a glance. Harry was sitting comfortably in the corner of one of the common room couches reading his Defense textbook with Ginny snuggled up against his right side. His arm was draped around her while she played with his fingers, obviously uninterested in the Astronomy text she was supposed to be studying. As Hermione's comment sunk in, Ginny turned her head to speak.

"It's cold outside and Harry is quite warm." She smirked up at the boy in question, who pretended to be engrossed in his homework.

"I see." Hermione replied. For a moment, Harry thought that she would leave it alone, but they weren't that lucky. "Something happen over Christmas?"

Ron arrived back with an armload of books and more than a slight frown on his face. "Bloody hell, I think I might have more work to do than Hermione. It's going to take _ages_."

"Ron!" Hermione chastised, though it sounded like more of a reflex than anything else. "And if you would actually work on it sometime before the day it was due, you wouldn't have to spend the entire day doing it."

The redhead shrugged and plopped down in a chair across from Harry and Ginny and at Hermione's left. "Why do today what I can put off until tomorrow?"

Hermione sighed and looked back over at Harry and Ginny. "You didn't answer my question."

"What question?" Ron asked.

"It's nothing," Harry replied, though he really didn't think it would stop Hermione, and it didn't.

Hermione grinned at Harry and then turned to Ron. "Anything unusual happen between Harry and Ginny over Christmas?"

Ron's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Well, other than Harry being kidnapped by Sirius, no?" He gave Harry and Ginny a funny look before continuing. "Though Fred and George kept going on about trying to catch them snogging."

"They did?" Ginny asked, perking up slightly.

"Did you?" Ron countered, obviously quite a bit more interested now that neither Harry nor Ginny had seemed particularly fazed by the idea.

"No!" Ginny snapped. Harry felt her start to get irritated so he took his now forgotten hand and grasped hers gently. It had the intended effect and he felt her relax against him.

"I want to know how many rolls of parchment you two used when writing over the break," Harry said offhandedly, but the subject change was entirely intentional. Hermione went back to her book and Ron suddenly found the floor very interesting. Satisfied, Harry went back to his reading.

_That was low._

Harry let his inward laugh flow toward her. _It worked._

Ginny began playing with his hand again, a sign that she was once again relaxed, calm, and content. Harry attempted to get back into his assigned reading, but he'd gotten no further than one paragraph when he felt someone lean against the couch beside him. He looked up and found Katie Bell's smiling face above his own.

"Hey there," Katie said, looking around at Ron and Hermione even though everyone knew she'd come to talk to Harry...and apparently Ginny as her eyes fixed on the younger girl. "Did you finally convince him to stop being so thick?"

The younger girl smirked and leaned her head back to look at Katie. "Hardly. I'm enjoying this as much as I can because I have to twist his arm to get him to put it around me."

Harry frowned down at Ginny's now innocent face but didn't say anything.

"So how was your Christmas?"

"Excellent," Harry said, much to the surprise of all present. He had to admit the word sounded funny in his mouth, but he wasn't ready to tell the world about Sirius, even though he thought he could trust Katie (as well as Angelina and Alicia, especially). "Best one yet."

"Was it now?" Katie asked, grinning. "Why is that?"

The real reason was simple: any Christmas at the Burrow was loads better than any other place he'd spent it, including Hogwarts. He loved the castle dearly, but there was just something about a warm home that made the holidays that much better. However, that wasn't the answer he had in mind. "Because I got a brilliant present."

By now, he could feel four very curious looks on him. Katie couldn't help but sound as interested as everyone looked. "Really? One present made your entire Christmas the best one?"

Harry nodded, feeling extremely proud of himself. Ginny caught it, but from her confusion, she hadn't figured it out yet. "Well yeah, when you get one of these." He wrapped his arm around Ginny and squeezed her affectionately.

Two things happened at once. First, Harry felt an incredible wave of affection and flat out glee from Ginny that nearly made him dizzy, and second, the other three present gave him openly shocked looks. Ginny turned to snuggle into him and wrap him in one of her soft embraces, which he returned as much as he could without feeling awkward.

"That's...the sweetest thing I've heard in a long time," Katie finally said.

Ginny snickered and looked up toward the chaser. "That's my Harry, sweet and adorable rolled into one."

Harry made a face and considered pulling away from Ginny just for that, but didn't want to ruin the moment. "Am not," he finally said for lack of anything better. Both Ginny and Katie smirked, as if they were teaming up against him.

"Too late for that," Katie grinned. She glanced back at Angelina and Alicia, who were understandably shooting curious looks in their direction. "Well, I better get going, I think we're going to meet some cute Ravenclaw boys." She winked at Harry and then slipped away, barely getting over to her friends before the three engaged in a deep conversation about something.

"Er, Harry?" Ron said finally, after a long moment of silence. "Are you _sure_ Ginny hasn't been feeding you Love Potions?"

Harry laughed and shook his head. "It's only when I start writing her name with little hearts above the i's that you need to worry." Hermione suddenly looked uncomfortable, to which everyone held back a grin. Harry wasn't sure if they'd ever let her off the hook when it came to one Gilderoy Lockhart.

_What is so right with you this morning? _Ginny wondered absently. _I mean...I know I'm not giving you Love Potions and I'm still not convinced Ron isn't right._

"So it's official, then?" Hermione asked.

"Official?" Harry asked, confused. She gestured between him and Ginny and he got it. He cast about frantically for an answer that wasn't no and wasn't yes and that wouldn't hurt Ginny's feelings, but fortunately, she had one ready to go.

"Only as official as you and Ron."

Hermione didn't even hesitate, though Ron's ears turned a bright red. "There is nothing romantic going on between Ron and I, thank you very much."

"The same nothing is going on between me and Harry too." She winked at Hermione and then laid her head on Harry's chest peacefully.

_There is something going on with you though, _Ginny said after Hermione didn't reply.

_Eh?_

Ginny snorted. _Come off it Harry, you've never been one to show anything, let alone to someone besides Ron, Hermione, or I._

_So that means I'm not allowed to?_

_Of course not...it's just strange. And I'm not entirely sure you mean it._

That hurt much deeper than even Harry could have expected, and though he could feel Ginny instantly regret she said it, that didn't take it back. _I just wanted you to feel appreciated, that's all._

_You did that and a lot more, Harry_. She squeezed his arm gently with hers. _I know you don't think you want a girlfriend, and you think we're too young for it, but you sure are acting like a boyfriend._

_Maybe I should stop then._

_Don't you dare,_ Ginny warned. _You will never convince me that you don't like it. Not_ _when it's me._

Harry closed his eyes and sighed, wishing for a half moment that he hadn't said anything at all. _I didn't plan on it Ginny._

She pulled away slightly and turned around once again to put her back against his side and pulled his arm around her. _Please don't be angry with me?_

_I'm not angry with you__._ Harry didn't know quite what he was – frustrated, perhaps, that he couldn't define how he felt about her and that it was keeping him from giving her the Harry she wanted. She was right, he couldn't say that her physical contact was uncomfortable anymore, but he didn't exactly crave it. There were still a lot of things that he was unsure of, but he was sure he didn't want to be in a relationship with Ginny without those things resolved and knowing exactly what he wanted.

Mercifully, the conversation turned away from Harry and Ginny and back to the homework at hand, though Harry could tell it was more for the sake of peace than because Hermione (or Ron, even) was satisfied with Harry's explanations. Either way though, Harry looked down at the girl under his arm and thanked Merlin that he hadn't started arguing with her too. They got along perfect as long as the status of their relationship didn't come into question because neither of them knew how to define it. Ginny knew how she wanted it to be, but that was a lot more than Harry could say and she respected that, even if she wanted something more.

--

Thursday afternoon (and Defense Against the Dark Arts) came once again and Harry found himself thinking more about Prongs and Moony than anything Professor Lupin was talking about. It seemed that this year more than any other he was learning more and more about his father and he couldn't help but wonder which one was which, and why they were named that way, among other things. After class, he stayed behind and told Ron and Hermione to go on without him and that he might be a while. Hermione gave him an inquisitive look, but he ignored it and approached Lupin's desk quietly.

"Can I help you, Harry? I only have a few minutes, but they're all yours."

Harry had spent most of the class figuring out a way he could say what he wanted without risking someone else overhearing. "Have you talked to Padfoot?"

Lupin's eyebrows raised and for a moment, he didn't respond. The Professor finally shook his head and responded. "I have. Sorry about that, you just looked and sounded so much like James."

That was more of a compliment than a lot of people could give him – from what he'd heard (Snape's account not withstanding), his father was someone he'd want to be like. "Is he alright?"

"Getting by." Lupin conjured a wooden chair and motioned Harry into it. "He told me that a certain set of twins have a Map I might be interested in. Do you know anything about that?"

Harry shook his head. "Not a clue, but Padfoot thought it was brilliant."

Lupin smiled and nodded. "If any two people should have it, it's them."

"What is it?"

"Nothing terribly important, just something that your father, Padfoot, Lily, and I put together."

Harry made a mental note to ask the twins about it. If it was something that his Mum and Dad had done, then it was important. Maybe not for its actual use, but more for sentimental value.

"Are you Prongs or Moony?" The question sort of blurted out since it had been in the back of his mind ever since Sirius challenged him, and having a class with Lupin had brought it to his attention.

Lupin, however, shook his head. "You'll figure it out in due time."

Just then Ginny poked her head into the classroom and upon gathering the curious looks of both Harry and Lupin, tinged slightly pink. "I just wondered where Harry was."

"You're welcome to join us, Miss Weasley. We aren't discussing anything too terribly manly." Lupin winked at Harry as Ginny shuffled in and sat in another chair that Lupin conjured. "I figure I should get to know my best friend's future daughter-in-law." There was a slight hint of mischief in his voice and he waited patiently while Harry and Ginny worked it out.

"We're taking things slowly, Professor." Ginny said. "It's not like we're pressed for time."

Lupin smiled and nodded. "I only wish that James and Lily would have had the same. By the time James came around and grew up enough to have her, the war was already in full swing and they had to worry more about survival than being together."

Harry was silent for a long few moments, trying to imagine what his father would be like if he was alive. It was one of the things that he burned to know but never would, thanks to Voldemort. He didn't feel particularly comfortable talking about his relationship (if that's what it was) with Ginny, so he asked something else he'd been thinking about. "Why did they use Peter as the Secret-Keeper and not you?"

He immediately regretted asking when the deep pain appeared in Lupin's eyes. "They thought I was the spy, or at least had their suspicions. It made a lot of sense during the war." There was something else there that Lupin wasn't saying, but Harry didn't have the heart to press it. A lot of things would have been different if Peter hadn't been able to betray his parents.

He glanced at Ginny with an uneasy look and then turned to Lupin again. He didn't particularly want to ask his next question, but Lupin seemed like someone who would know best. "Er...Professor?" He paused. "What do you think my parents would think of me?"

Lupin looked more than a little surprised by the question, and even Ginny felt a little thrown even given their bond. Harry could feel her sympathy and affection for him and accepted it, even if it didn't make him feel that much better. Being an orphan was just not something that healed quickly, if at all.

"I'm sure they'd be very proud of you." Lupin said, after a long moment of thought. "To be quite honest Harry, you're in many ways the best of both of them rolled into one."

Harry didn't know what to say to that at all, and was thankful that after a few moments of awkward silence Ginny altered the course of the conversation.

"Professor? Didn't you say that Harry and I remind you of Harry's parents?"

Lupin nodded and even half-smiled. "In some ways. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I just thought that I sounded more like Harry's dad and Harry is more like his mum."

The aging professor cocked his head and looked between the two of them, his smile growing as he pondered. Eventually, he raised an eyebrow at Ginny and chuckled. "You know, I believe you're right, Miss Weasley. Not in all ways, but many of them."

Ginny wrinkled her nose. "How come you call Harry by his name and everyone else by their last name?"

Lupin seemed surprised by the question and took a moment to respond. "I suppose it's because I knew him as a baby." He seemed lost in thought, as if there was more to that answer, but if there was he didn't offer it. "You sure are full of questions today, Ginevra."

A blush rose on her face and Harry turned to look at her. In all of their discussions, she'd never mentioned that Ginny wasn't her full name, nor even hinted at it. Judging by the slightly mischievous smile on Lupin's face, he'd done teased her on purpose, though Harry suspected he would never admit it.

"Everyone calls me Ginny," she replied unnecessarily.

_Ginevra? I might start calling you that._

_Don't you dare, Potter. I know where you sleep._

Harry smiled inwardly. "I think Ginevra is a nice name." _Is that a threat, Weasley?_

"Only because it's me you're talking about," Ginny shot back. _You bet your arse it is._

Harry caught a smile on Lupin's face and a slightly zoned look to his eyes. He wasn't sure whether to feel proud or uncomfortable about giving his Defense professor flashbacks to his own Hogwarts days. _Language Gin-Gin,_ Harry chided in a terrible imitation of the twins. Ginny made a rude noise at him in his head, which almost made him laugh.

"I hate to ruin the party, but I do have work to do this afternoon," Lupin said, and Harry could tell he really didn't want to shoo them away. "It was nice talking with you Harry and Ginny, and feel free to stop by any time." Harry could tell the professor had almost said Ginevra again, but thought better of it. Even so, he could start to see a more playful side of Lupin that must have been more prominent when he was with his friends. Ginny led the way out the door as they said their goodbyes and walked slowly up toward Gryffindor Tower. Once they were well on their way she reached over and grasped Harry's hand, which he allowed her to hold without a second thought.

"He's really lonely," Ginny said suddenly. "I hope he can talk to Padfoot."

Harry nodded. "I would be too if I was him." They walked a little longer in silence before Harry spoke up again. "Do you know where the twins are?"

She shook her head. "No, why? You could probably find them at dinner."

"I want to ask them about the Map that Padfoot was talking about. Lupin said that my mum and dad helped make it and I just want to see it."

Harry felt warmth flow from her heart to his and thanked her silently for it, even if he hadn't been feeling particularly down at that moment in time. His parents would always be enigmas to him, something just out of reach that he couldn't ever possibly fully understand. The closest he could get were the things and people that they left behind, and there were precious few of those.

--

Sure enough, the twins were at the Gryffindor table at dinner, just like Ginny had suggested. Harry was observant enough to know that it probably wasn't something to talk about over dinner, so he contented himself with chatting to Ron, Hermione, and Ginny and allowing himself to be introduced to Alicia's new boyfriend, a Ravenclaw sixth year that he had never seen before. That was an awkward experience, but it did spark a thought in his head that Ginny might like to be shown off in the same way if they ever came to the point of calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend. Well, if he ever got to that point. Ginny was long past there.

Harry got his chance to talk to the twins after dinner as they were heading up the staircase. It was a bit of an effort to catch up to them, but he finally pulled up alongside them and cleared his throat.

"So have you two heard from Padfoot lately?"

They shook their heads. "Should we have?"

Harry shrugged. "I haven't either, but I am curious about the Map he was talking about."

The twins shared conspiratorial glances and then turned back to Harry. "Sorry, that's a trade secret."

Harry's heart fell, but Ginny wasn't willing to give up so easily. "Harry's parents' made it, you know."

This time, the twins seemed a lot more interested. "Is that true?"

"Professor Lupin said so," Harry replied. "I guess he would know, seeing as he was one of my mum and dad's best friends."

The twins glanced back at each other as if having a private discussion, and then nodded. "If you have a moment, we'll meet you in the common room," Fred said. Harry knew it was Fred because of a pale scar just under his right ear when he'd gotten when they were eleven, the summer before going off to Hogwarts for the first time.

"Sure," Harry said absently, realizing that Ginny hadn't told him about that, and yet he remembered it as if he was there. Fred had gone into Ginny's room to wake her up and when she didn't want to wake, he'd stolen her blanket and ran off down the stairs with it. She'd woken up quickly after that and stalked him as she rubbed her eyes to clear them and waited for the opportune moment to pounce on him. When she jumped him, he fell awkwardly and an inconveniently located end table had scraped a thin wound just under his ear and partially around the back of his head. It hadn't been a serious cut but the part just under his ear had never healed quite properly and she'd always been able to tell the twins apart since then. Harry even felt Ginny's suspicions that her mum had done it on purpose so she could tell them apart as well.

Once he followed Ginny into the portrait hole, he gestured to a couch by the fire to warm up. Harry sat first and Ginny laid against him, as was normal these days. Harry didn't wrap an arm around her, but she never asked and never expected it.

_You know which one is Fred by the scar under his ear._

Ginny turned toward him and he felt her intense confusion. _I've never told anyone about that._

_How did he get it?_

_Well, when I was seven he stole my blanket and ran away from me, so I went to find him and –_

– _tackled him into an end table and gave him a cut on the side of his head._

Ginny was silent for a long few moments. _H – How did you know that?_

Ron and Hermione had come over to join them, but if there was one good side effect to Ginny lying against him, it was that no one ever questioned why they weren't talking even though they were right next to each other. Harry was about to explain when the twins rejoined them (Harry noticed an odd look from Fred, probably at Ginny's current position) with very conspiratorial looks. They glanced at Ron and Hermione before putting their backs to them.

"This, Harry," Fred began.

"And Ginny," George added.

"Is the secret to our success." Fred pulled a worn, very old looking piece of parchment out of his robes and unrolled it for them to see. It was blank.

"Looks like it belongs in a rubbish bin, if you ask me."

Harry didn't show it, but he agreed with Ginny. The twins backed away as if mortally wounded. "Rubbish bin?!" Fred exclaimed. "George, explain."

"In our first year, back when we were young and innocent –"

Harry snorted and Ginny giggled. They both knew as well as anyone that the twins had never been innocent.

"– well, more innocent than we are now, we found ourselves in a spot of trouble with Filch."

"We set off a dungbomb in a freshly cleaned corridor and it upset him for some reason." Fred continued.

"So he hauled us off to his office and threatened us with the usual –"

"– detention –"

" – disembowelment –"

"– anyway, we couldn't help but notice a drawer marked _Confiscated and Highly Dangerous_."

Harry started to grin as his and Ginny's feelings matched in amusement. It was plenty clear where the story was going.

"We did what any other sound-minded wizards would have done – George caused a diversion by dropping another dungbomb and I found this." Fred shook the parchment gently.

"But do you know how it works?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes," George said, smirking.

"This beauty has taught us more than all of Hogwarts' teachers combined."

Harry and Ginny stared, waiting.

"_I solemnly swear I am up to no good,_" George said, and then tapped the parchment with his wand. Ink began appearing all over the parchment, filling in an intricately detailed map of the entire of Hogwarts, including dozens of secret passages Harry hadn't a clue existed. Only when the map was finished did the perfectly scribed green words appear at the top of the parchment.

_Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs_

_Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers_

_are proud to present_

**THE MARAUDER'S MAP**

The map itself was remarkable; Harry could see why Fred and George never seemed to get lost and could seemingly appear out of nowhere if they wanted. But the truly brilliant part was the miniscule black dots that were labeled with names next to them in even smaller hand writing. Both Harry and Ginny sat up and bent toward the map, searching for the Gryffindor common room. Sure enough, four dots practically on top of each other were labeled _George Weasley, Fred Weasley, Ginevra Weasley, and Harry Potter._ However, Harry's eyes also drifted to seven passages that seemingly lead to nowhere.

"These seven go to Hogsmeade," Fred said, as if reading Harry's mind. "We reckon Filch knows about these four." He pointed at four of the passages. "This one caved in last winter, and the entrance to this one is right under the Whomping Willow, so that leaves this one." He pointed his wand at the last passage way and poked the map, causing it to enlarge and reveal that there was a one-eyed witch statue right in front of where the passage should be.

"It leads to the cellar in Honeydukes, we've used it loads of times," George said.

"Right then," Fred said, almost as if he was trying to make the rest of the conversation quick. "We've decided that you're the rightful inheritor of the Map, and besides, we don't need it anymore."

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. We owe them so much." George patted the head of the map.

"Don't forget to wipe it after you use it, or anyone can read it." Fred said. "_Mischief Managed,_" he whispered and then tapped the map with his wand. Instantly, it wiped itself clean and looked like just another bit of ratty old parchment. Harry's eyes bounced between the twins.

"So young Harry," Fred said as he stood. "Behave yourself, and don't do anything we wouldn't do." He winked as he said this, but Harry could have sworn he glanced at Ginny meaningfully.

"Well then, we'd best be off," George said as he dropped the rolled parchment on Harry's lap. "Behave yourselves, and don't go sneaking off. Who knows where that Sirius Black might be..."

With that thought, the twins waggled their eyebrows and headed off through the portrait hole to raise mayhem who knew where. Harry looked down at the parchment in his lap with a very odd feeling, like he wasn't sure what to do with it. It was strange having something he knew his parents worked on and used while they were at Hogwarts; it gave him the same sense of connection that he'd felt (and still did) with the Invisibility Cloak.

Ginny laid her head on his shoulder and brought him back from his thoughts, though she didn't say anything. He knew she must be feeling what he did, but that didn't mean he wanted to be left alone. Of course, it wasn't Ginny who broke the silence.

"What was that about?" Hermione asked.

Harry didn't answer immediately; instead, he tucked the Map into his robes and grasped Ginny's hand. "It's nothing."

He could tell she didn't believe him one bit, but he didn't care. He wasn't in the mood to talk about it and he knew Hermione would have an endless line of questions about everything, probably even wondering how it worked, of which he hadn't a clue. Instead he laid back and didn't say much for the next few minutes, even when Ginny joined Ron in a game of chess while Hermione went back to studying.

_Harry?_

_Hmm?_

Ginny was still playing chess with Ron, but judging from her rather disinterested feelings, she didn't care all that much about winning. _How did you know about Fred's scar?_

In the wake of the twins' visit, he'd completely forgotten about the conversation he'd been having with her. _I remembered it._ There wasn't really any other way he could have put it.

_You remembered it? _She sounded confused. _How?_

Harry mentally shrugged. _I don't know. You know what it's like when you think and try to remember something that happened to you? It was like that – only I was you in the memory_.

_You were me?_

_Yeah. It was like it was my memory, but it wasn't._

Ginny glanced back at him in disbelief, but there was nothing to base her feelings on. _Do you think this is another part of our connection?_

Harry wanted to say no, but it made too much sense. _I think so._

_So you'll know everything I remember?_

_And you'll probably know everything I do,_ Harry added glumly. The thought was extremely depressing and he could tell Ginny felt somewhat the same way. _I don't want you to feel like I do when I'm at the Dursleys._

That thought must not have occurred to her, because her sinking feeling dove deeper. _I didn't even think about that. I...I just feel like we're not going to have any privacy at all._

Harry thought about that for a moment, but his feelings didn't change. _I don't think we're meant to, Ginny._

_Meant to? By who?_

_Whoever is doing this to us. I don't know._

_You think someone is doing this on purpose. _It was more of a statement than a question.

_Not really, but I can't think of any other explanation. Can you?_

Ginny didn't respond but gave him the feeling that she know what to believe or say about it. Harry glanced around the room to find Hermione still studying and since he didn't want to bother her, simply watched Ron and Ginny play chess. After another couple games he took over for Ginny and became Ron's new victim, but he didn't mind much. It was something to get his thoughts off more serious topics and a way of spending time with his best mate.

It wasn't long until the three of them began to get sleepy and Harry said that he was headed off to bed. Both Ron and Ginny had the same idea, though Ron said he would be up in a minute. Harry stood on the second step up to the dormitory and watched as Ron shuffled over to Hermione and said something to her, after which she looked up and shook her head. Ron must have said something else because she sighed heavily and started packing away her books. Harry smiled and continued on up to his dormitory, happy that someone could finally get through to her and make her go to bed.

That night, Harry had a very strange dream. It wasn't like a normal dream, or like a dream he'd had with Ginny, but it was different altogether. He could plainly see and feel everything that was happening, but he couldn't control it. It felt like he was observing from inside someone else's body, though he never could catch a glimpse of whose body that might be. All of the scenes that unfolded before him felt like happy memories of a life he'd never had, one where he'd grown up at the Burrow with the Weasleys and never knew of his life at the Dursleys. There was always the feeling that this wasn't quite his own life, that he was just looking through someone else's eyes and feeling through their senses, but it was so wonderful that he pretended it was him. The dream continued to flash through different places and times, and Harry felt as though he was getting older with each one. The last memory was of coming across the lake for and feeling the excitement and awe at seeing Hogwarts for the first time. Even before he stepped off the boat, everything slowly faded away and left him to his sleep.

--

Harry was the first to wake in his dormitory the next morning, though he felt well rested and relaxed. He laid in bed pondering the meaning of his dream and came up with an explanation, though he wasn't sure how he felt about it. Ginny was already up and getting ready for the day, so he did the same and made a note to himself to talk to her about it at first opportunity. Pushing his thoughts aside, Harry rolled out of bed and noticed that Ron was still softly snoring in the bed next to him. He paused long enough to give the redhead a hard shake before heading off to the loo to shower.

Ginny and Hermione were waiting for him when he arrived in the common room fifteen minutes later. He wanted to talk to Ginny about his dream, but regardless of how much he stood up for Hermione and trusted her, this was something that he wanted to talk to Ginny about before he said anything. However, Ginny didn't have any qualms about talking around Hermione and oddly enough, seemed to be able to read his mind.

_Did you have a weird dream?_

_Yeah...are you alright?_ She felt a little depressed and even though she'd perked up upon seeing him, she still wasn't as happy as she had been over the past few weeks.

_Sort of. You dreamed about me, right?_

_I think so. It felt like I was living your life at the Burrow before you met me._

_I had the same type of dream, but it was about you._

Suddenly her mood made a lot of sense. Harry hadn't thought about the reverse, or her having his memories. His dream had been so peaceful that he didn't even think about what she might have seen and felt. Unable to stop it, he felt a slight blush come to his face and felt guilty when Hermione sighed.

"Sorry Hermione," Harry said, though he knew he was the only one who felt that way. "Did you sleep well?"

"Too well," she replied. Harry could tell she wanted to be awake, but her body was saying she could use a little more sleep. "I meant to get up early this morning to revise more, but I didn't wake up to my watch."

_I don't know what to say, Ginny._ "If you want to go back to sleep, I can bring you the notes from Runes."

Hermione looked stricken. "Skive off a lesson? Harry, when have you ever seen me miss a lecture?"

_You don't have to say anything._ She accompanied her response with a feeling of acceptance. _I know it's all history, but it's still depressing._

"I suppose not," Harry conceded as Ron rumbled down the boys' staircase. _You know how I feel about it._

Ginny reached over to squeeze his hand gently. _I know._

"I'm hungry," Ron announced, causing Harry, Ginny, and Hermione to chuckle and begin moving toward the portrait hole. The four of them walked down to breakfast together and held light conversation while Harry and Ginny put their dreams aside.

Friday turned out to be a rather relaxing day except for the Quidditch practice in the evening, but then again, Quidditch could never be described as relaxing. However, no matter how tired he was, he still dreamed. It was the same type of dream as he had the night before, though none of the memories were the same. Still, even when he experienced the pain of Ginny plowing herself into the ground after too steep of a dive on a broom, it wasn't depressing in the slightest bit. It only occurred to him when he woke what Ginny must have been dreaming about, and confirmed it when he felt her anguish even as she slept. However, she didn't seem to want to talk about it when he met her for a late breakfast, so they left it alone and proceeded to have a normal Saturday. It did console Harry to note that Ginny perked up over the Quidditch match, even though Slytherin wound up defeating Ravenclaw.

Saturday night was much the same as the nights before, and on Sunday morning Harry felt a grim acceptance from Ginny so he didn't bring up the dreams. He knew she would come to him if she really wanted to talk about it, otherwise he didn't quite know what to say. They were his memories so he knew some of what she might be feeling, but it wouldn't do him any good to relive his past as well. Sunday was simply a homework day and by the time Monday rolled around, things were still normal, dreams and all. That is, until the end of class.

"Mr. Potter, might I have a word?" Professor McGonagall's voice cut through the noise of her students packing up and surprised Harry. Ron and Hermione gave him questioning looks, but he hadn't any better idea what McGonagall wanted than they did.

"We'll see you at lunch then?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded and walked up to McGonagall's desk, but his Transfiguration professor didn't sit down. "If you would, my office please?"

He followed his Head of House to her office, which was not far from the classroom she taught second-year Transfiguration in. It looked exactly the same as it had last time; absolutely nothing was out of place and even the chairs looked angled in the same directions. She motioned for Harry to have a seat and only after he was comfortable did she begin.

"Before we begin, you should know that Professor Dumbledore has brought me up to date on the situation with Mr. Black." When Harry glanced nervously around, she added, "I assure you this office is quite secure. We may talk freely without worry of interruption." Harry nodded and after a moment, McGonagall resumed.

"No doubt the news will be in the _Daily Prophet _tomorrow, but Albus has managed to convince the Ministry to remove Mr. Pettigrew's Order of Merlin." She paused to let that sink in. "While this means nothing in terms of proving Mr. Black's innocence, it does allow a proper investigation as to why Mr. Pettigrew has been in hiding for the last twelve years."

If anyone else had told him, Harry would have been celebrating, but something about McGonagall's demeanor kept him from jumping to conclusions. "What does that mean?"

"It should mean that Mr. Pettigrew would be brought to justice. However, there are certain important persons within the Ministry that seem to be pushing for his release as soon as possible." It was clear the disdain she had for these 'important persons'.

"Why do they want him released? Is it his family?"

"Not as such. It is Albus's opinion that Mr. Pettigrew has enemies that would like to deal with him in their own manner."

Harry blinked. "Why not just let the Ministry have him?"

"Because, Mr. Potter, they may want him dealt with more permanently. From their point of view, Mr. Pettigrew fed the Dark Lord information that led to his downfall."

That was a new one. Harry had just assumed that Peter would be let off and live a life similar to other wizards who had served Voldemort and gone free. "So what's going to happen?"

McGonagall's lips thinned. "Nothing is for certain, but it is likely that Mr. Pettigrew will be released. Assuming the Ministry is on top of things," her expression indicated she wasn't so sure about that, "He will be closely followed by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. In either case, Mr. Black will be tailing him as well."

Harry nodded and remained silent. He couldn't think of anything to say to that, it seemed that the only thing he could do was wait and see what happened. After a moment of silence, McGonagall quietly cleared her throat to catch his attention once again.

"I see you and Miss Weasley have become quite close."

It wasn't so much of a question as a statement, and while it did put Harry on guard, there wasn't much he could say in response. "Yes, Professor."

"Will it become a problem again, Mr. Potter?"

Harry felt a flare of anger but quickly silenced it. It wouldn't do him any good to be angry at someone who had complete control over him. "I didn't think my friendship with Ginny was a problem, Professor."

McGonagall looked down at her desk and seemed to be debating an answer before her eyes rose to look over her glasses and down at him again. "It is only a problem when your relationship causes you to break school rules without regard for the consequences."

His immediate reaction was that Ginny was more important than school rules, but he held his tongue. He had a sneaky feeling that was precisely the opposite of what McGonagall was trying to say and arguing would get him nowhere. "Are you saying I can't be friends with Ginny?"

"Not at all, Mr. Potter." Harry had to suppress a smile of satisfaction – she seemed a bit shaken at his response. "I am simply suggesting that you exercise a little more respect for the rules."

Harry could tell that they weren't going to get anywhere with this, so he didn't push it any farther. "I'll try Professor." Suddenly, Harry had a thought. "Did Professor Dumbledore tell you to ask about Ginny and I?"

The split second hesitation was all Harry needed to confirm his suspicions. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Harry said. He'd already gotten his answer. "Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

McGonagall nodded curtly. "You are free to go."

Harry grabbed his bag and headed toward the door, using his internal sense of Ginny to find her eating lunch with a crowd of her friends. He headed immediately down to the Great Hall and found Ron and Hermione sitting in the middle of the Gryffindor table, so he joined them after passing by Ginny and giving her a warm smile, which she returned before returning her attention to her conversation. Out of curiosity, he listened briefly and discovered that her year-mates couldn't believe that Harry Potter really fancied her. Ginny half-heartedly denied it, but Harry could tell she didn't really mean what she was saying. It gave him something to think about, in any case. He'd honestly believed that being in a more physical relationship with Ginny would bring him back to earth and show him that he didn't have such feelings for her, but if anything, he felt closer to her than ever before.

Those thoughts were quickly pushed away as he plopped down next to Ron and began to explain McGonagall's conversation, leaving out anything that had to do with Ginny. He had to stop several times because someone else passed by the table or conversation around them died down, but eventually he got the entire story related.

"Good riddance," Ron said between bites. "He gets what he deserves, if you ask me."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Even if that's true Ron, we still need him to prove that Sir-Padfoot is innocent." She looked quickly around but luckily no one was paying enough attention to hear her slip.

"We could let Crookshanks have him for breakfast."

Hermione shot him a dark look. "You weren't so excited about that _before_ Christmas."

Ron groaned. "Must we bring that up again? You're always doing that, bringing up things that were ages ago."

"Try a month, Ronald." Hermione shook her head and turned to Harry. "Do you think the Ministry will be able to catch him doing something illegal?"

Harry shrugged. "How should I know?"

"Well, what do you think should happen to him?"

That was a bit more of a serious question. "Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious."

He debated whether he wanted to answer that. Even though the traitor was different, he still felt the same – whoever betrayed his parents and handed them over to Voldemort deserved nothing less than a Dementor's Kiss. "I think the Ministry should get the real story out of him."

"And after that?"

Harry sighed, frustrated. "I don't know, Hermione. Depends on what he says."

Ginny chose that moment to appear and sit down next to Harry, squeezing his hand under the table. Surprisingly, her touch actually helped bleed off a little frustration.

"Hello Ginny," Hermione greeted.

"Why hello Hermione," Ginny returned, in much better spirits than Harry knew she was. "And nice to see your smiling face too, dear brother." That earned her a bread crumb to the face, which she couldn't quite block with one hand occupied with Harry's.

"What's got you in such a good mood today?" Ron asked.

"Oh, nothing." Ginny said. Harry was still trying to figure out what she was getting at – she wasn't miserable, but her mood wasn't nearly as good as her outward expression. "Just wanted to say hi."

_You alright?_ Harry asked silently.

_Of course,_ Ginny replied, but she didn't even try to pretend with him. _I guess being bubbly doesn't turn off as soon as I leave them. _She tilted her head in the direction of a group of second year girls. When Harry spotted them, half of their faces turned red and all of them turned their gazes elsewhere.

_Did you finally start up a fan club? _Harry asked dryly as he ate. Hermione understood what was happening and filled the silence by talking with Ron about Transfiguration while he half-listened.

Ginny snorted. _As if. I don't need more girls ogling you – I'm already having to beat them off with a stick._

_I have faith that you'll keep them away from me._

_What happened with McGonagall?_

Harry shrugged and glanced over at Ron significantly. _We can talk about it later._

_Alright. You better get going or you're going to be late for class._

Harry glanced around the Great Hall and noticed that it was mostly empty and nodded. He gave Ginny's hand a squeeze before he stood and walked with Ron and Hermione out toward Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures. He felt the familiar disappointment of being left alone for her second year classes, but he pulled her focus toward the warm feeling she gave him inside and he felt her smile at his back.

--

They didn't get a chance to talk alone until that night, after everyone had gone to bed. Harry lay awake thinking, and though he'd never admit it or say anything to Ginny, wishing that she didn't have to relive his pre-Hogwarts days every night. He'd laid in silence for around ten minutes when he felt a gentle push against the outside of his mind. He quickly fell into his mindscape and invited Ginny into his dormitory and conjured a large, comfortable chair for the both of them. If only magic in the real world was this easy.

"Expecting me to sit on your lap, Mr. Potter?" Ginny asked playfully. Harry shrugged and conjured another chair before looking back at her.

"It's not like you'll use it anyway," he replied as he sat down in one of them. His assumption was right as Ginny plopped down on top of him, though the chair was almost wide enough for their smallish forms to sit side by side.

"So what did McGonagall say?"

Harry could feel her curiosity about to burst from inside her and suppressed a grin of amusement. "She wanted to tell me that the rules are more important than you, and I think she was poking around for Dumbledore. He told her to ask about us."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "So what did you tell her?"

"That I don't think our friendship has ever been a problem."

For the first time in a while, Ginny's good mood wavered. "She thinks our friendship is a problem? And why does Dumbledore care?"

Harry nodded. "It makes sense if you think about it. To me, you're loads more important than following the rules, and she thinks the rules are more important than us. And I don't know, I just had a feeling. I think we're something he can't figure out."

"The rules are there for a reason, Harry," Ginny chided, but her heart wasn't in it. "McGonagall is right, you shouldn't break them on my account."

Harry smiled and shook his head. "It's not like I'm using you as an excuse."

"I know you're not, but there's no way for them to understand your feelings. They will never understand what it feels like when your Soulmate almost dies." Harry felt a pang of depression and laid an arm around her shoulders to comfort her.

"Do you ever think you'll want to try to explain it to them?" Harry asked.

Ginny shook her head. "No."

Harry nodded and searched for something to take her mind off its current track. "Did you hear what I told Ron and Hermione about Sirius?"

"Yeah. I agree with Ron, for once." She laughed quietly. "I hope he does get whatever they do to him."

"Or the dementors," Harry added to Ginny's agreement. At least he didn't have to worry about hiding his feelings from her – she not only understood, but felt nearly the same way.

After a long silence of just sitting together, Ginny caught Harry's gaze. "I...I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry for what you had to go through at the Dursleys."

"Why are you sorry?" He felt a little confused. "You didn't do anything."

Ginny shook her head. "No, I know I didn't, but I can still feel bad for you. It's impossible for me not to, and I guess I just wanted you to know."

Harry accepted that explanation. "Do you think we'll have to know everything before the dreams stop?"

Ginny didn't answer for a long minute. "It seems so. At first it was kind of nice being able to actually see what you were talking about instead of having to imagine it, but now it's just depressing." She sighed. "At least you get the better memories."

"I would take mine if you didn't have to see them," Harry said, causing Ginny to smile.

"Of course you would."

Harry tried to wrap his mind around that cryptic statement until Ginny said that they should get some sleep. Harry agreed and bid her a good night, after which she returned to her own mind, though she didn't fall asleep for the longest time. Harry knew this because, well, he couldn't fall asleep either. It was a good hour or so before they were both sound asleep in their beds, dreaming of each other's lives before they'd become inseparably close and shared every experience anyway.

--

That night was different than most other nights in the fact that his dreams were not entirely happy or playful. Most of them were still memories of Ginny's life before Hogwarts and especially of the year that all of her brothers were gone and she was at home alone with her parents, but that faded into her first year at Hogwarts. Harry felt all of the loneliness at being ignored by her brothers and all of the dismay at Hogwarts not being exactly what she'd expected. He could feel a few happy moments where Ginny just sat and stared at Ron, Hermione, and himself, but even that led to more depression because she'd felt like an outsider, like someone who wasn't good enough to be friends with the famous Harry Potter, or even the brilliant Hermione Granger. Even Ron, who had been her friend most of her childhood, seemed to have moved on to better things.

But that wasn't the worst part of the dream. The worst part was watching her write into the diary and Tom write her back, ensnaring her soul and using it for his own twisted ends. Harry could now separate his and Ginny's emotions – hers were of longing and loneliness, his were of anger and helplessness. The memories flashed by until suddenly, Ginny was standing in front of the tap in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, hissing in Parseltongue to open the Chamber of Secrets. Only it wasn't Ginny...Tom's eyes shone through Ginny's face in a bright, sickening red.

Harry awoke gasping for air, as if he'd been underwater and holding his breath until he couldn't stand it anymore. He threw off the sheets, the sweat that beaded on his skin made the blankets feel damp and sickening. It was the middle of January and he was still overwhelmingly warm, even as his bare feet touched the cold stone of the castle floor. Making up his mind, he headed off to the shower and stayed there until he heard his roommates begin to stir, which signaled the start of the morning.

He came down to the common room early, before anyone else, but somehow Ginny was already down there waiting for him. He slowly walked over and sat next to her, though he wasn't quite sure what to say. Neither of them were feeling spectacular, though instead of resisting the memories being forced upon them, there was a grim sort of acceptance that both of them felt.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Harry closed his eyes and sat back. "I'm not really sure what to say."

"You were dreaming about last year, weren't you?"

He nodded silently.

"It's just a memory."

He knew that, but then again, Tom Riddle had also just been a memory of a Dark Lord preserved in a diary for fifty years. Memories could hurt just as much as the real thing. "I guess I know why you feel like you do every morning," Harry finally said. Ginny agreed and reached out to grasp his hand.

"Dad told me once that people wouldn't be who they are if the past was any different. I like you how you are, Harry, and when I have to remember all the things that I dream about, I just think about how you turned out. It's a lot easier to deal with that way."

Harry forced a smile and nodded, though there was no way he would ever say that being possessed by Voldemort was a good thing for her. "I certainly like you a lot."

Ginny smiled. "Do you now?"

Harry shrugged. "Just a little bit."

Ginny smiled and turned toward him, wrapping him in a warm embrace and laying her cheek against his shoulder. For the first time, Harry felt completely warm inside at her touch and not an ounce of reservation remained. Just having her wrapped around him dispelled most of his feelings and left him feeling rather good, considering the dream he'd just awakened from. He turned toward her as well and wrapped his arms under hers, pulling her on top of his chest as he sunk down into the couch so that she was nearly on top of him. Ginny looked down at him curiously as he smiled up at her; no more words needed to be spoken between them. The position was a bit awkward, but Harry got the feeling that she didn't care one bit, and as she rested her head against him, neither did he.

--

Three weeks passed and January faded into February without excitement. Harry spent most of his evenings out on the Quidditch pitch practicing with the team in preparation for the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match, one on which Gryffindor's hopes of winning the Quidditch Cup rested upon. Ron and Hermione didn't always make it out to practices, especially in the rain, but Ginny never missed one, never came late, and never left early. Oliver more than once used her as an example of dedication to the rest of the team, which amused her quite a bit seeing as she only sat under an umbrella in the stands watching them fly. A few times on clear days Harry would let her have a go on his broom after practice, but only after the rest of the team was gone. She was a pretty good flyer, and though she wouldn't hear of being better than Harry, she did put herself up there with the Gryffindor Chasers. Harry was quick to agree based on flying skills alone, since he'd never seen Ginny handle a quaffle in a real match and the Gryffindor girls were flat out brilliant.

As Valentine's Day approached, even Harry couldn't ignore the increased amount of affection in the air and the number of couples that seemed to spring up in the hallways. Of course, thinking of Valentine's Day had inevitably reminded Harry of the valentine that Ginny had sent him the year before, which when he mentioned it, caused the redhead to blush nearly the color of her hair. Harry hadn't mentioned it after that, but there had been sly smiles that she understood and refused to acknowledge.

However, with the Hogsmeade weekend approaching and the idea of Valentine's dates all around him, Harry couldn't help but thinking that he'd like to take Ginny out on a date. It had started as a subtle thought and the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't get the idea out of his mind and his feelings began to overflow the careful restraints he'd put on them. Even with the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map, it was too much of a risk to sneak down to Hogsmeade with the both of them, especially since all the teachers (minus perhaps McGonagall) would still be on heightened lookout because of Sirius.

However, it didn't stop another idea from blooming in his mind. He carefully kept his feelings tamed whenever he was around Ginny, but while he was in class his thoughts roamed and he began planning this Valentine's Day to be the best Ginny had ever experienced. At this point, he could only recall half of her Valentine's experiences, but they all at one point had fantasies of Harry Potter coming to ask her on a date. Maybe this Valentine's Day her fantasy wouldn't be so far from reality.

Unfortunately, he hadn't a clue what she might want and even though he was closer to her than anyone else could ever hope to be, figuring out what to get her that sent the right message was a near hopeless task. As the Saturday of the Hogsmeade weekend rolled around, Harry decided to just wander around Hogsmeade and see if anything leapt to mind. If nothing else, Hermione would be there if he got really desperate, though he wanted to keep it a secret to show he'd thought of it all on his own.

Just after he and Ginny had waved goodbye to Ron and Hermione, Harry led the way back up to the Gryffindor Tower and ran up the boys' staircase, leaving a very confused Ginny behind. He gathered up his Invisibility Cloak and the Map before stuffing both inside of his robes and heading back downstairs. He still wasn't quite sure what to tell Ginny because she would be able to tell exactly where he was going, but hopefully he could keep most of his intentions a secret.

"Er, Ginny?"

She raised an eyebrow, but there wasn't any accusation behind her stare. "Are you going to tell me what this is about?"

Harry glanced at the floor. "I was thinking about going to Hogsmeade for a bit."

Now the accusation was there. "You're not planning on taking me, are you."

"It's a lot easier to get caught if we both go under the cloak. You can go after me if you'd like."

She shook her head and plopped down on the couch. "That's not the point. I want to go _with_ you."

Harry struggled internally. He wanted to go with her, but if it wasn't for her, he wouldn't even be going down there in the first place. He would much rather spend his time in the castle together than in Hogsmeade alone, but that wouldn't get what he wanted for Valentine's Day. Ginny sighed before he could say anything else.

"You should go so you can get back sooner. I know you want to see the village."

Harry glanced at the portrait hole. "If you really want me to stay, I will." He hoped she would let him go for even a half hour, but if she said no, then he wouldn't go.

"It's alright Harry, I can tell you want to be here too. I don't want to keep you from doing things you want to do especially when I'm always with you."

"You sure?"

Ginny nodded. "Go have fun, and hurry back."

Impulsively, Harry reached out and wrapped her in an awkward hug, awkward only because he was the one who initiated it and it didn't seem like Ginny was expecting it. Once she'd wrapped her arms around him, he squeezed gently and let go to find a slightly dazed look on her face.

"That's the first time you've hugged me without being hinted at or asked," Ginny said dreamily.

Harry smiled. "Maybe I should do it more."

"Yes...yes you should."

And with that, Harry headed toward the portrait hole and while he could feel a slight undercurrent of depression, his embrace had made things a lot easier for her to handle.

Once outside the Gryffindor common room, he threw on the Invisibility Cloak and activated the Map, which led him directly to the One-Eyed Witch on the third floor. After whispering the password, Harry slipped through an entrance obviously designed for students and not much more and began his long walk to Honeydukes' cellar. More than once he wondered if the passage would ever end, but eventually he hit a set of seemingly endless stairs that led up to a trapdoor, which he opened quietly and found himself surrounded by piles and piles of sweets. That been his first inclination for a present to get her (sweets), but it hadn't been special enough. Tearing his eyes away from boxes of Fizzing Whizbees, he headed up another staircase and found himself in the middle of a huge crowd of Hogwarts students examining every type of sweet imaginable.

Initially, Harry was worried that his invisible form would cause some very interesting questions as he pushed through the crowd, but it seemed that the store was so packed that no one seemed to notice that there was no one directly behind them to cause the pushing. He finally made his way out of the store and headed up the street, his jaw dropping in awe at the sheer magic of the place. Hermione had been on about how it was the only entirely wizarding settlement in Britain, but Harry could see now why that was so interesting. Magic was everywhere, from the shop signs to the construction of the buildings and even right down to the robes and cloaks that most people wore. Harry hadn't experienced much of the Muggle world in his first eleven years, but he knew there wasn't any place like _this_.

Of course, having no idea where was going, Harry simply picked a direction and walked. He was about to turn around and see if anything jumped out at him in the opposite direction when he spotted a flash of red and focused to see Ron and Hermione entering The Three Broomsticks, an inn he'd heard about even before coming to the village. For lack of any other ideas, he slipped into the place and found even more Hogwarts students than in Honeydukes. Apparently everyone had the same idea of snagging a butterbeer to warm up before beginning the shopping day.

Ron seemed in a bit of a daze as he picked up two butterbeers and brought them back to where Hermione had gotten them a table, though Harry hadn't a clue why. He slid into the booth next to Ron and across from Hermione, and even though he'd been as quiet as possible, Hermione still furrowed her eyebrows in his direction.

"Not going to get me one, Ron?" Harry asked. His best mate's reaction was priceless – Ron immediately jumped away from him and into the wall, staring at the seemingly empty space where he sat. Hermione clamped a hand over her mouth to suppress a squeal, though Harry could already see the irritation in her eyes.

"What are you doing here Harry?!" Hermione asked. "_How_ did you get here?!"

Harry explained all about the Marauder's Map in hushed tones and through Ron's complaints that the twins didn't give it to him. Luckily, neither of them seemed to question why he was there, since it was logical to them that he would want to see the village. Harry privately thought that he would be able to see plenty of it when he came with Ginny (rules or not) next year, but he didn't mention that to Ron and Hermione.

However, nothing could stop Ron from showing him every detail of Hogsmeade as he knew it, and though Harry wasn't quite there for a tour, it did give him time to think about what he wanted to get Ginny. He knew he wanted something special that she would remember and that not everyone would get her, but he didn't want to go over the top and bring too much attention to himself. He thought about a quill when Hermione mentioned that she'd wanted to get a new one for a while, but again, he didn't think that was quite special enough. There had to be something that could be just between them, that showed that he really cared and loved being around her.

It wasn't until he passed Gladrags for the second time that he realized what he wanted to get Ginny. After checking on her and finding her attention (surprisingly) elsewhere, he left Ron and Hermione and slipped off into the well-lit wizarding clothes shop. It took longer than he expected until he found what he wanted, but eventually he found the perfect thing. After carefully checking to make sure no Hogwarts teachers were around, he pulled off his cloak and made his purchase, carefully tucking it away in his pocket before exiting the shop and throwing the Invisibility Cloak back over himself. The saleswitch even wrapped the box in a nice looking paper and tied a pink bow over it, though Harry could have done without the bow.

Satisfied, Harry made his way back to Honeydukes and back to the cellar of Honeydukes and back up toward the school, reaching out and telling Ginny that he was on his way back. Her mood improved considerably at the news, though he could tell she was still a little miffed at his excursion. He could only hope that would be fixed when she figured out why he'd left.

He found her about where he left her, sitting by the common room fire reading. She looked over and closed her book as he approached and sat next to her, an odd seriousness between them that Harry wasn't sure who had started. He guessed it was himself, but at that moment he realized he couldn't wait two days to tell her. Instead, he turned to face her and managed to catch her eyes. He took a deep breath and started a speech he'd already rehearsed silently countless times in class.

"Ginny...I guess it's time I told you the truth about something." At her raised eyebrow, he continued before she could interrupt. "I..." He paused. "I like it when I'm around you, not just because I'm your friend, but because you make me feel like this." After the last word, Ginny gasped quietly as a torrent of emotion rolled across both of them. It felt good allowing his more than friendly feelings for her run free and finally acknowledging what he had tried so hard to deny.

"I didn't tell you or show you before because I was afraid that they weren't real, and that I would let you down, and I was afraid of what might happen to you. I even tried to hide it from myself, but whenever you touch me, it's like I can't hide it anymore." Harry reached over to grasp her hand, taking a moment to make sure he didn't stumble over the next line. "Ginny, I want you to be my girlfriend."

He'd barely got out the last syllable when Ginny shouted "Yes!" and tackled him in a hard embrace. Harry wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him as she pulled her face back to look down at him. "It's about time, Potter."

Harry released one of his arms from around her and reached into his pocket to pull out the neatly wrapped box. "I wanted to wait until Valentine's Day, but when I saw you I just couldn't." Ginny was staring at the box as if it was something strange and potentially harmful, which caused him to falter. "Is it alright?"

She smiled and took the box from him. "Of course it is Harry, I just hate that you're always buying me things and I can't do the same."

Harry shook his head. "Just think of it as a present from your boyfriend. That's what boyfriends are supposed to do, right?"

Ginny laughed and sat up, though that left them in the rather awkward position of Ginny straddling his stomach. Of course, the redhead didn't seem to mind at all. "You don't have to do that Harry, though it's very nice of you. I'd still want you to be my boyfriend even if you didn't buy me anything."

Harry thought it was rather nice to have someone to buy things for, though he didn't tell Ginny that. "Go on, open it."

She ripped the paper off the smallish present and raised an eyebrow at him when she saw the red velvet box that was inside. However, when she opened it he got considerably more than a raised eyebrow. He distinctly heard her gasp and stare between him and the box, which held a golden ring with a small emerald set into it that had nearly jumped out at him in the store. It hadn't been much in Harry's opinion, but apparently it meant a lot to Ginny.

"Did Hermione help you pick this out?"

She must have felt his overwhelming pride because her smile got even bigger, if that was possible. "Nope. I knew what I wanted but I didn't know what you would like, so I just got something to match the earrings. And besides, you like green a lot."

Ginny snickered. "You know why I like green, Harry."

"I do?" He tried to put on his best innocent expression, which Ginny would have none of.

"Yes, you do." She held the box up to the side of his face and nodded. "Perfect match."

Harry rolled his eyes and earned himself a sigh, but that didn't erase the sheer happiness that radiated off of her. "So you like it?"

Ginny nodded gleefully. "I do, very much." She took the ring carefully out of the box and slid it onto her ring finger. "You know what this means, don't you?"

He looked up at the fiery passion in her eyes, a little afraid of the mischievous feeling inside of her. "What?"

"Well, boys always give girls rings before they get married..."

Harry's eyes widened as Ginny laughed. He knew she wasn't serious, but he hadn't meant to give even the slightest hint of that kind of commitment. Simply asking her to be his girlfriend was a huge step and he didn't want it to move any faster than it already was, but at the same time, he didn't want to dampen her mood so he said nothing.

"Good answer," Ginny finally said, grinning. "You know, if you keep buying me things, I'm going to have a whole set of emerald jewelry to wear."

He raised an eyebrow. "Maybe that's the point."

"I certainly won't get in your way." She leaned down to hug him again. "Thank you Harry, it's beautiful."

He picked his head up and whispered in her ear. "So are you."

That earned him an even tighter squeeze as their emotions crashed together in an even better feeling than Harry could have imagined. He'd never thought that simply saying what was on his mind would create such a warm feeling, but he'd never experienced anything quite like having Ginny's small frame wrapped around him. The only thing that even came close to making him as happy was flying, and even that didn't quite capture the electrifying happiness that were running through his system at the moment.

The pair of them spent the rest of the day together doing whatever came to Ginny's mind. Even that night's Quidditch practice was brilliant, thanks in part to the perfect flying weather. Harry felt the rest of the team eyeing him whenever they thought he wasn't looking, and after a while he realized it was because of the silly grin plastered on his face each time he glanced over towards Ginny sitting in the stands. He seemed to have plenty of moments to spare peeking her way, as the Snitch was having great success eluding him. Either that, or his mind was elsewhere the entire practice. Then again, it was one of those rare days where he didn't need to be flying to be wonderfully happy.

--

Alicia Spinnet had been watching Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley all day with a slightly envious gaze, wishing that she could feel something close to their relationship in her own life. Even when her new boyfriend had suggested they go back to the castle to have a little more alone time, she hadn't felt anything on the level that Harry and Ginny showed. It was funny how innocent hand-holding and embraces could show a lot more than anything an almost seventeen year old boy wanted to do to her. However, when Hermione Granger ran her down after Quidditch practice and asked what had happened between Harry and Ginny, she could only think of one response.

"Harry finally asked her out. You should have been there, it was beautiful."

* * *

_**A/N:** Sorry for the long delay between chapters - I needed an extended vacation. However, it's good to be back and I do plan on finishing the story, so don't worry. Do leave a review if you've read and if you want to see progress on the next chapter and know I'm not simply teasing, I plan on updating the ticker on my website whenever I work on it._

_Hope you enjoyed it and there's more to come!_

_As always, thanks to Will for the fantastic beta work._


	18. Connections

**Eighteen: Connections**

Harry slept extremely well that night, better than he could ever remember. There had been mornings at Hogwarts where he'd awakened and felt well-rested, but those were nothing compared to how he felt as the dawn crept into the window of his dormitory on this particular Sunday morning. Within a few moments of his consciousness returning, he was sitting up on the edge of his bed and sliding his glasses on, wondering where in the world he'd gotten so much energy. It wasn't a restless feeling, but more like a confidence that he was ready to meet the day and whatever it brought him.

Judging by others' reactions from the night before, it seemed the entire school knew that Harry Potter was now in a relationship with Ginny Weasley. Hermione had given them each a knowing look at the dinner table, and most of the student body at one time or another glanced in their direction as if to confirm what their friends were telling them. Even the Gryffindor chasers thought his now official attachment to Ginny was special news, though it was clear they thought it was cute more than anything else. They'd jokingly congratulated him on pulling his head out of his arse (which Ginny found highly amusing) and teased him gently until his entire face was flushed red with embarrassment. He was granted mercy after that, but Ron had been surprisingly silent about it through the whole meal. Ginny was the one to notice it, but after he caught her line of attention Harry wondered what his best mate would have to say about the new developments. Rather mysteriously, Ron didn't say anything about it even when they were alone in going to bed.

Harry showered and dressed in comfortable robes while considering whether to wake Ron, but luckily the decision was made for him. The redhead stirred and groaned before waking to the noise of his roommates around him, since all three of the other boys were already up and about either talking or rummaging around for clothes.

"So you and Ginny, huh?" Ron asked, once he saw Harry looking at him. Maybe he had wanted to sleep on it before bringing it up.

Harry shrugged. "Yeah." There wasn't much else he could say in response.

"Don't you think she's a bit too young?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. He didn't think of Ginny as a year younger most of the time – she acted much like he did and even more mature at times, even if she did have a penchant for playing the innocent youngest sister to avoid getting in trouble. He knew that from her vast experience with pinning everything on the twins as a little girl.

"No, why?"

Ron sighed and didn't respond as Harry wondered what had inspired the question. Once the redhead had gotten dressed and they were ready to walk down to the common room together, he brought up the subject again.

"Ginny might as well be in our year, you know."

They began descending the stairs as Ron gave him a funny look. "What do you mean?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't really think about how old she is. It's not like she's a little kid."

"She's still too young to be seeing a boy, and if it was anyone but you, I'd hex him."

Harry almost missed a step. Was it really wrong of him to ask Ginny to be his girlfriend? It had felt so right at the moment, and in all of the day before, but Ron didn't seem to think that she should have a boyfriend. Harry knew the main topic of her conversations with her friends was anything to do with boys, but how many girls her age actually did anything about it? He'd have to talk to Ginny, even if he already knew what she would say.

Ginny met him in the common room feeling rather bouncy, though he could tell that she was a little worried about his mood. She greeted him with a hug which he returned, but the whole time he couldn't help but think about what Ron said.

_What's bothering you?_

Harry looked down into her eyes as his arms slid away from her. _It's nothing important_.

She refused to let contact drop entirely by grasping his hands and returning his gaze. _If it's bothering you it's important to me. Now out with it._

Harry tore his eyes away from hers and noticed Hermione looking at them with a small smile and Ron trying to look everywhere but at them. _Later, when we have time._

_I won't forget, _Ginny warned. Harry gave her the mental equivalent of a nod as they turned to Ron and Hermione and the four of them walked down to breakfast together. The meal was good and Harry noticed that Ginny was a lot more forward than he expected with their relationship. He'd thought that nothing in particular would change since he'd already softened and allowed her to lay against him and hold his hand occasionally, but it was nothing compared to her affection now. He wasn't complaining, but the constant love and warmth she gave him was a little overwhelming at times. There were more than a few instances where she stole food from his plate even though the huge platters of were full right in front of her – she'd never done that before.

After breakfast, they walked back up to the common room hand-in-hand while Ginny felt on top of the world. Harry wasn't quite sure how to describe her feelings even to himself, but he knew she'd never been quite as happy as she was this morning in her entire life. He tried searching for a memory that made her as happy as she was now and utterly failed. Harry only had one that compared, and that was finding out he was a wizard.

Since it was Sunday, Harry had to pull out his books and pretend like he was working to satisfy Hermione, but he couldn't summon the motivation to do much of anything. He had the entire day after all, and not really that much to do. Hermione set about spreading her work on the floor in front of the couch that Ginny dragged Harry to while Ron found a nearby arm chair to drag over.

_So what's bothering you?_ Ginny asked the moment she found her place leaning against Harry's chest and looking up at him.

_Just something Ron said, _he replied. He felt her irritation and attempted to head it off. _It's not really bothering me that much anyway._

_He said something about me, didn't he?_

Harry didn't even bother denying it. _He's right though, you are really young._

Ginny rolled her eyes and reached over to pull his arm around her. _He's just being protective. I know you're not going to hurt me._

Harry hesitated. _Not on purpose._

_How can you hurt me by accident?_

He wished he hadn't even brought it up. _Someone is always trying to kill me._

Ginny sighed softly. _I thought you learned your lesson about that._

_It's different when it's you that gets hurt._

She didn't respond for a few minutes, long enough for Harry to open his Arithmancy text and pretend to be reading it. He noticed both Hermione and Ron stealing glances at them when they thought he wasn't watching, but those didn't matter. The entire school was staring and whispering about them last night and he hadn't backed down.

_I'm not afraid of that. I'm afraid of what might happen if we don't make the most of every minute. And besides, I bet __**he**__ wouldn't be too young if he found a pretty girl he wanted to snog._

Even Harry had to agree with that and squeezed her gently to show his acknowledgement as he actually did begin to concentrate on reading his Arithmancy book. After a few minutes, Ginny got up to grab her own homework, which was getting rather tedious doing essays for things she already completely understood, but somehow she forced her way through the material. Of course, it helped (her, at least) that Harry had to share in her boredom since he could feel every bit of it.

A little before lunchtime Harry spotted the Weasley twins making their way toward him with unusually serious expressions on their faces. Ginny eyed them as well with a warning gaze, but they ignored her and spoke directly to Harry instead.

"Could we have a moment of your time, Mr. Potter?"

"It shouldn't take long."

Harry raised an eyebrow at Ginny and then nodded, though he (and Ginny) already knew what they were up to. Ginny sat up to let him free and Harry allowed the twins to lead him to a private corner of the common room. They sat at an empty table and Harry chose the seat across from them; at least he had a small barrier to protect him.

"We saw this coming a while back," Fred began, unusually serious.

"Despite your protests, we knew your intentions toward our lovely sister were not of the brotherly sort," George continued. Harry stared down at the table, remembering his protests that he wasn't interested in Ginny like that. He hadn't been then, or at least, he hadn't admitted it to himself.

"But, since we think you're such an upstanding character," Fred grinned.

"We're going to take it easy on you."

"Long story short, if you hurt her –"

"– we'll hurt you."

"Got it?" Fred asked with a winning smile.

"You don't have to worry about that," Harry said quietly. Indeed, if he hurt Ginny whatever the twins would do to him he would deserve.

"Good. We'll be seeing you then." George said as they both rose. Harry glanced up at them and suddenly had an insight. They were older boys, and certainly popular...maybe they could help him.

"Er, George?"

Both twins turned their heads. "Yes?" Fred asked. Harry smiled.

"You're Fred."

The twins' jaws dropped in unison, giving a very comical impression. They looked at each other before looking back at Harry with extremely confused expressions. "How did you know?"

"Trade secret," Harry responded immediately. The twins held their looks of shock for a moment and then laughed. Harry felt rather proud of himself for making the twins laugh like that. Usually it was them providing the humor and entertainment for everyone else.

"Well then, what can I do for you Harry?" George asked. Harry glanced at Fred a little uncomfortably.

"Can I have a word alone?"

That seemed to confuse the twins even more, but Fred wordlessly slipped off as George sat back down. He looked very uncomfortable without the presence of his other half, something Harry (interestingly enough) could relate to quite well.

"I...er...just wanted to ask you what I'm supposed to do as a...a _boyfriend_." Harry had to force the word out almost as if it was stuck in his throat, and then he began speaking very fast. "Because you know, girls like you, and you were the one who stuck up for me."

George blinked. "...stuck up for you?"

Harry looked down at the floor. "To Fred...you know. In the Hospital Wing."

A look of comprehension crossed George's face, though it wasn't without a slight bitterness. "We're over that. But if you're talking about Ginny, just be yourself." He paused and glanced over at his sister, who was eyeing the two of them curiously. "A girl doesn't go out with a bloke if she doesn't like him, so the worst thing you can do is change. Don't force it, but do pay attention when she tells you what she wants. Believe me, you'll have your hands full just doing that."

Harry nodded and smiled. "Thanks...that helps a lot."

"Don't mention it," George said with a furtive look around. "Really."

Harry grinned. "I won't. You can tell Fred if he asks about it...I just wasn't sure how he would respond."

George gave Harry a funny look. "Are you sure you won't tell how you can tell us apart?"

That was one thing that neither Harry nor Ginny wanted to share – it was kind of special to be the only ones who could tell the difference. "You're different people, aren't you?"

The redhead raised his eyebrows. "I suppose we are."

Harry stood and looked over at George, who rose with him. "Thanks again."

"Anytime, mate."

The two parted and Harry went back over to Ginny as she gave him a questioning look. _What was that about?_

_You weren't listening?_

She shook her head. _I didn't want to._

That was actually a huge relief since he hadn't really thought about it before talking to George. _Why not?_

She sat up to give him his spot back on the couch. _I would much rather you tell me than me have to eavesdrop._

Harry smiled and sat next to her, this time pulling her against him with an arm, much to her pleasure. _It was just a brotherly warning not to hurt you, and if I do, I'll find myself tied to the top of a Quidditch hoop with no wand._ Harry wished he'd come up with that himself, but Wood had made that threat in the locker room against anyone who was late to practice.

_So what was the thing with George?_

Harry shifted uncomfortably. _Nothing, I just wanted to ask him something. A boy thing._ He got the impression that Ginny knew exactly what he was talking about because her curiosity faded and she didn't pursue the question further. Instead, they went back to reading and simply enjoying each other's presence while holding light conversation with Ron and trying not to bother Hermione, who looked as though she would fall apart if she worked any harder.

--

Sunday floated into Monday as both Harry and Ginny began to grow accustomed to the new feelings within themselves. At first, it was a little weird having so much affection flowing from both ends of the bond, but after a while they began to separate it and understand that they were only feeling each other, even though the feelings were constant. Harry wasn't quite sure how to respond to having such affection constantly flowing into him, but he followed George's advice and didn't try to change anything while showing Ginny that he liked it. The result was the occasional hug or squeeze of the hand, but it seemed to make her happy.

In fact, he was just giving her one of the aforementioned squeezes of the hand at breakfast on that Monday when his section of the Gryffindor table slowly quieted and he felt a rather cold and sneering presence behind him. He didn't have to turn to know who it was; trust Malfoy to pick Valentine's Day to show his pointed face.

"Congratulations on your new relationship, Potter." Malfoy clapped slowly, mockingly. "And congratulations to Weasley on securing her financial future. It's nice to see that some of the lower classes know what's important."

Harry closed his eyes and outwardly ignored Malfoy. Inside, a torrent of rage was already building and he was sure Ginny could feel it as well.

"Not going to defend your girlfriend?" Malfoy seemed slightly surprised. "How un-Gryffindor of you. I suppose that's what happens after you get what you want out of her."

It was lucky that Ginny had his wand hand wrapped up tightly, otherwise he would already have had it out. He squeezed harder, venting some of the frustration that was building up inside of him. He glanced up at the staff table where a few of the teachers, including Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore, seemed to have taken an interest in Harry's predicament. Lupin was nowhere to be found.

"Shove off, Malfoy," Ron said angrily, his ears burning red.

"Stuff it, Weasley," Malfoy drawled. "I don't recall asking for your opinion."

Harry slowly turned toward Malfoy and glared as Ginny held his hand firmly in place. It was clear she didn't want him getting detention or worse, but he couldn't just let Malfoy run his mouth. "I didn't ask for yours either."

Draco turned slightly pink and apparently couldn't find a suitable response, so he stalked off and rejoined his friends at the Slytherin table. Harry was about to turn back from glaring at Malfoy when he felt a very much taller and imposing shadow pass over him. He looked up to see McGonagall looking down at him with expressionlessly.

"Well handled, Mr. Potter," she said before moving off toward one of the far entrances to the Great Hall. Harry looked after her in a bit of confusion, though he had to admit restraining from hexing Malfoy hadn't been easy. If Ginny hadn't been there, he might have wound up with a far worse detention than sitting in Dumbledore's office.

"What was that about?" Hermione asked as Harry returned to his food.

"I don't know," Harry shrugged.

_She's right though Harry,_ Ginny said as Hermione gave him a look that showed every bit of disbelief. _I'm proud of you._

She was, but Harry couldn't understand why. All he'd done was follow the rules and not put Malfoy in the hospital wing. Even if he had wanted nothing more, it still wasn't right to attack him.

_Happy Valentine's Day,_ Harry said. He put an undercurrent of affection under his words and made sure to be taking a bite of sausage to cover their mental conversation, which was a good thing because she suddenly smiled and a warm shiver ran down her spine.

_You too, my amazing boyfriend._ Harry shivered at the word, but that only seemed to amuse Ginny even more. It was one thing to feel like her romantic partner on the inside, but it was something completely different to have her acknowledge it in words and actions. He supposed she understood his uncertainty and that's why his reactions amused her rather than annoyed her, but that didn't change the fact that he felt it.

_So how long is it before I can hear that without feeling all funny?_

Ginny laid against him after taking the last bite of her breakfast. _Hopefully never._

Harry silently groaned for her amusement and then set his own fork down. "How much longer do we have until classes?"

Hermione looked down at her watch. "We should probably go now. It won't hurt to be a little early."

The four of them stood and walked toward the exit. Harry could feel Ginny's disappointment at having to separate, but Hogwarts wasn't about to halt classes for Valentine's Day. Harry turned toward her and gave her a shy smile. "Happy Valentine's Day."

She smiled and hugged him. "You too Harry. I'll see you after classes?"

He nodded as she headed off in the other direction before turning back to Ron and Hermione, who were pretending to be very interested in one of the tapestries hanging in the corridor. He was about to silently thank them for turning the other way when Ron spoiled it.

"I don't think I'll ever have a girl on Valentine's Day. Too mushy."

Harry didn't think there was any point in responding since Ron obviously didn't get the feeling of being attracted to someone like he was to Ginny. Unfortunately, Hermione couldn't resist the argument.

"Did you ever consider that you might _want_ to be like that with a girl, Ron?"

The redhead's nose wrinkled. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Because you care for her?" Harry thought Hermione was expecting entirely too much out of Ron, but he didn't want to get in the middle. "It's not about you, it's about making the other person feel cared about."

Ron shrugged as they stepped into their Arithmancy classroom. "Even if I tried, who would believe me?"

Harry's eyes darted to his best mate in shock, but Professor Vector hushed the class before either he or Hermione could respond. Hermione looked as though she was considering whispering to Ron through the lecture anyway, but Harry was glad she didn't because he needed to pay attention as much as possible. Arithmancy was hard enough without his two best friends distracting him.

The class wasn't exactly interesting even though he needed to pay attention, but it was hard with Ron's words echoing around in the back of his mind. He'd never heard his best mate say something like that, but the strangest thing was Hermione seemed to have a response prepared for him. Maybe she was just faster at that sort of thing; Harry had been rather speechless, but Hermione used the first few minutes of class to scribble madly on a spare bit of parchment before handing it to Ron. Everyone knew Ron wasn't a big fan of himself, but he usually kept his self-degradation quiet and personal so Harry usually didn't have to deal with it. Though now that he thought about it, Harry realized that Ron and Hermione were spending a lot more time together, and more specifically, alone. Maybe there was something going on there that he didn't understand. He'd have to ask Ginny later.

Speaking of Ginny, she was doing exceptionally well in Transfiguration. Harry usually tried to pay as much attention to Professor Vector as he could, but with his mind already wandering he was drawn to Ginny and her feelings of pleasant surprise. The second years were turning mice into door stops, a transfiguration Ginny made on her first attempt without much effort. After giving the redhead a look of surprise, McGonagall had been very pleased and awarded Gryffindor ten points. Unfortunately, after quick conversation, Harry learned that she didn't know _how_ she did it, just that the spell had seemed exceptionally easy.

The issue was put aside as Harry headed to his own Transfiguration class, which consisted mostly of lecture material and very little practical. This allowed him to keep his mind with Ginny, which after a while she felt again and gave him an inward smile as Flitwick passed around small beach balls to practice Engorgement Charms on. Harry was just tuning back into Professor McGonagall when he felt a rather large shock from Ginny. He closed his eyes and looked through Ginny's, only to find most of her vision was obscured by a massive rainbow colored beach ball that took up half of her charms classroom. It was all he could do not to burst out laughing at the diminutive Flitwick nearly pinned under the massive sphere; instead, he had to hide his rather large grin behind his hand.

"Mr. Potter?"

Harry snapped his eyes open and had to deal with a moment of disorientation while he withdrew from Ginny's senses. "Yes, Professor?"

"Would you care to share with all of us what is so funny?" Her tone didn't sound like as though she found anything even remotely funny about the situation, and neither did Harry after hearing it.

"No, Professor. Sorry."

McGonagall pursed her lips. "Do try to pay more attention in class."

After a dirty look from Hermione, Harry focused back on McGonagall and tried to put Ginny to the side, but he couldn't quite keep his amusement at her situation from distracting him. Flitwick shrunk the beach ball and asked who had cast the charm, at which half the class pointed in Ginny's direction. She earned another five points for her very well executed Engorgement Charm, but she didn't try it again for the entire class.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione met Ginny on their way to lunch. Harry could tell that Ginny was a little on edge, so he decided not to ask her about her classes until she had the chance to get some food in her stomach. That turned out to be a wise idea since her nerves were considerably calmer halfway through her sandwich and she didn't have the ravenous feeling making her irritated.

He had just decided to ask her about her classes when a huge black owl swooped into the Great Hall. Mail at lunch wasn't unusual at Hogwarts, and especially on Valentine's Day where a few owls were used to deliver cards to many of the students' significant others, but Harry had never seen an owl quite like the one that dove toward him. It was rather alarming when he realized that the letter in its talons was for him, though thankfully the large black bird flew off and didn't return. Harry didn't recognize the writing on the outside of the parchment so rather than tuck it into his pocket, he ripped through the seal and unrolled it.

_Harry,_

_I thought I'd write to let you know that I'm on top of things and you shouldn't have to worry about our rat problem for a while. It seems they've all skipped town and don't have plans to come back any time soon. Not exactly what we expected, but then again, they're tricky little buggers._

_It'll probably be a while in between letters since I'm not going to be close by, but I'll try to write as much as I can. I'm sorry if this took a while to reach you – I haven't had the time or the means to write much of anything since Christmas came along. If and when you write back, just tell your owl it's for me and she'll know where to go__.__ She's a smart one, I don't know if I told you that. She's actually the reason I knew you were at The Burrow – tell Hermione I'm sorry about stealing her letter._

_I'll keep this short since I have other things to be watching, but be sure to write if anything happens. Stay safe._

_Padfoot_

Harry wanted desperately to read the letter again but with stares already coming toward him, he didn't want to risk anyone seeing anything they shouldn't. The letter was so vague that no one could make out what it was, but he still rolled it up and stuck it in his pocket for later examination.

_Puts a new spin on dog ate the homework, doesn't it?_ Ginny asked, amused. Harry grinned, though it drew curious looks from Ron and Hermione.

"Our dog says sorry for eating your letter before Christmas," Harry said, looking at Hermione. It took her a few moments before comprehension dawned, at which point she turned to Ron.

"Oh Ron, I'm sorry for accusing you of stealing." Judging from the redhead's expression, he hadn't a clue what she was talking about. Harry laughed quietly and then glanced at Alicia, who was watching the whole exchange with an amused smile.

"You all are absolutely barmy, you know that right?"

This time Ginny laughed along with Harry as Ron and Hermione looked over with confused expressions. It was kind of amusing to think of what their conversation sounded like to someone who didn't know anything about Sirius.

Harry was able to put the letter out of his mind after lunch, which was a good thing because the third-year Gryffindors had Care of Dangerous – er – Magical Creatures. As much as he wanted to be able to, he couldn't pay attention to both his class and Ginny's, so he wound up giving her the mental equivalent of an embrace and then focused in on what Hagrid was saying.

He didn't wind up seeing her until just before dinner that night, which had more to do with being in separate years rather than lack of desire. However, even throughout dinner (while she held his hand), he felt her paying more than the usual amount of attention to Ron and Hermione. It felt like she was looking for something and the closer they got to the end of dinner, the more confused she got. He knew better than to ask about it while they weren't alone, but it still felt a little odd not to have more attention than he knew what to do with.

The four made their way back up to the common room after dinner and Harry immediately pulled Ginny over to a love seat by the fire and sat down, indicating clearly that she was to sit on his lap. She quirked an eyebrow but followed his non-verbal instruction, a smile working its way across her face.

"Quite romantic for Harry Potter."

Harry glanced around the room, wondering who would overhear them. "I just want to talk to my girlfriend, because, you know, it's Valentine's Day." He got the reaction he wanted – a warm shiver worked its way through their bond.

"You're just saying that because you know how it makes me feel."

He smiled and nodded. "Isn't that what boyfriends are supposed to do?"

Ginny wrinkled her nose. "Don't ask me, I'm a girl. I don't understand boys."

Harry rolled his eyes and laid his head back against the back of the chair. "You understand me pretty well."

She turned her head toward him with a mischievous smile. "Like how I know you didn't bring me over here to be romantic and sweet?"

Harry turned a little pink, but was determined not to back down. "Of course I did."

Ginny laughed and squeezed one of his hands with her own. "You have something you want to talk about."

Harry caught her gaze and stared into her eyes defiantly. It took him a moment to remember what he was going to say. "Just because I want to talk about something doesn't mean it can't be romantic."

She shook her head and then planted her forehead against his chest. "Harry, it takes effort for you to even say romantic."

That was true and he didn't have a counter-argument ready for that. He'd just started thinking how he should probably ask George what Ginny wanted in terms of romanticism when her open palm came down on his chest.

"Harry Potter, don't even think about being depressed on my Valentine's Day."

Harry blinked. "Your Valentine's Day?"

She nodded sagely. "Valentine's Day is all about girls, you know."

Was it? He didn't know, nor ever had the chance to find out. "Well, er, I'm sorry?"

Ginny groaned and for the longest time, didn't reply. Harry felt a strange mix of happiness, comfort, and slight regret, but he hadn't a clue what it all meant. Sometimes he wished he was as good as Ginny at figuring out people.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably. He didn't particularly want to bring it up now that he was supposed to be doing something romantic for Ginny and he had no idea what she wanted. "Nothing, I just wanted to be with you."

She stared blankly at him. "Harry, I appreciate what you're doing, but you don't have to pretend to be romantic just for me. I know it's weird for you and I don't want you to feel like you have to do anything."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows and didn't try to control his confusion. "But you just said..."

She cut him off with a shake of the head. "I was just teasing you. I don't need you to be romantic and show me how much you care because I can feel it."

He closed his eyes and pulled off his glasses, both confused and slightly frustrated. He was at the point where he wanted to just give up on trying to figure out what Ginny wanted. George was right, it was more than he could handle just to figure that out. Instead of responding, he just laid back and pretended everything was perfectly fine and he didn't have the most confusing girl in the world in his lap and holding his hand. She laid against him and for the next half hour, neither of them said anything at all. Harry supposed that wasn't expressly a bad thing, but he wished he could think of something to say that would ease out the tension.

"Harry?" Ginny said after opening her eyes and shifting against him.

"Mmm?"

"You shouldn't worry so much about me. It just makes me feel bad because I know how hard you're trying."

Harry looked down at her, but all he could see was the top of her head. "What do you mean?"

She sighed. "I know you're really confused about what you're supposed to do to be a boyfriend and I want you to stop worrying about it. If there's something wrong I'll tell you or you'll be able to feel it. Worrying too much is just going to make us both depressed, like it is now."

For the first time, Harry noticed that her feelings were mirroring his. It must have been a slow change because he hadn't noticed her good mood slipping away. "I just want to give you what you want."

"You've already done that."

He squeezed her hand gently. "Promise to tell me if I do something wrong?"

"I promise. Now tell me what you wanted to talk about."

Harry gazed down at the top of her head. "It's really bugging you isn't it?"

She looked up at him and for the first time in a while, smiled. "Yes."

He couldn't help but get infected by her smile. "I was just wondering what was so interesting about Ron and Hermione at dinner. You couldn't keep your eyes off them."

Ginny giggled against his body which felt rather nice. "It's nothing, I'm just being a girl."

Harry gently prodded her side with a finger. "Then tell me what it's like being a girl."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Really? You'll sit here and listen to me whine and complain for hours about how much I hate being a girl sometimes?"

He rolled his eyes. "You know what I meant."

She gave him a playful look. "I'm not sure that I do."

Harry reached over and rested a hand on her side with a slightly mischievous grin. "Careful Weasley, I know where you're ticklish."

She cocked her head and unconsciously twisted her side away from his hand. "How do you know about that?"

His hand followed her side and kept a slightly firm grip. "Because Charlie used to do it to you all the time when you were younger."

Ginny studied him for a second and then groaned as comprehension dawned across her face. "Of course you would know that. Cheater."

Harry squeezed her side gently and caused a smile to flash across her face like lightning. He knew from Ginny's memories, which he could now remember without having to dream them first, that she was so sensitive right above her hips that he could cause her to squirm even though her robes. She turned a rather dangerous look on him, though she couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"You're asking for it."

He just smiled at her and could tell she was getting equal amounts of frustration and enjoyment from his teasing. Finally, he wrapped his hand further around her and squeezed her gently in his arms. "So what's so interesting about Ron and Hermione?"

Ginny sighed contently. "I just noticed that they aren't acting any different toward each other today."

"Why would they?"

"Valentine's Day? Surely you haven't forgotten."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "No, but why would they act different?"

She groaned and Harry could tell she was a little frustrated. "Because they're supposed to be, well, involved. You know how much time they spend together and I thought they were finally working it out."

"So you think they're together?" Harry had never considered the idea and to be honest, he thought it was extremely unlikely. "Ron and Hermione?"

"It's written all over them," Ginny said firmly, but she didn't feel as confident as she sounded.

"They're just best friends," Harry countered. "Not everyone wants a girlfriend or a boyfriend."

"But they do!" Ginny insisted. "Maybe they just don't know it yet."

Harry sighed quietly and decided changing the subject was a good idea. She wasn't going to admit if she was wrong even if Ron and Hermione started bickering right at the moment, which wasn't so small of a possibility. "What happened in Charms?"

Ginny flushed a little pink. "I just lost control."

"Lost control? But you never do that."

"Yeah, well..."

Creases appeared on Harry's forehead as different explanations passed through his mind, each less likely than the last. "Did anything feel different to you?"

She hesitated. "Maybe?"

"That sounds a lot like yes."

She groaned and turned to bury her face into his robes. Harry could tell she didn't want to tell him and wished he'd been paying enough attention to know without having to ask. Eventually, she rubbed her face side to side against him before looking up. "It was a lot easier."

"Easier? Isn't that a good thing?"

"Not when it's not me that's doing it." When a wave of confusion washed over him, the side of her head hit his chest again. "It's you."

Harry felt more frustration than he might have expected. "Ginny, it's not me, it's you. You're the one casting the spell, I don't care where you get the power from. It's not mine, it's ours." He tone was a little more forceful that he'd meant and only his arms around Ginny kept her from pulling back entirely.

"I...I'm sorry." She sniffed. "I didn't mean that I don't want it to happen, it's just I know it wouldn't have if we weren't Soulmates."

Part of Harry's irritation deflated. "Well, we are and I know you wouldn't change that, so don't try and tell me that you don't want to share magical potential." He paused for a moment and waited for Ginny's gaze to meet his. "I don't want it to change."

Rather than responding, she squeezed him tight in an embrace and snuggled against him for the longest time. Eventually he felt her come back down to earth from a sort of dreamy state and turn her attention back to him.

"Thank you."

Harry smiled.

--

Thursday brought a relatively normal day for Harry, though he still tuned into Ginny's classes as much as possible in case another incident like the beach ball happened. She tried to feel annoyed at the attention, but Harry knew deep down she both loved it and thought her situation was a bit funny too. She had taken to casting her spells with as little power as possible and hoping for the best, which seemed to work most of the time. However, when she got to Transfiguration she was able to let go and manage the practical parts of the class with ease. The only downside was McGonagall remarked that her transfigurations were forced and not quite as stable as if she used exactly proper technique. Ginny had turned a little pink and said she would practice more.

To that end, later that night Harry sat with Ginny as she worked on transfiguring her textbook into a plank of wood and back again. Most of the time it didn't work because she held back and tried to force herself to do the magic properly, but every once in a while (to Harry's amusement) she got frustrated and blasted the book into wood. It didn't help that whenever Harry attempted it the wood turned out perfectly and never had stray words left on it from the pages.

About a half hour in, Harry noticed Hermione staring at them with a thoughtful expression and was so focused that she didn't even notice Harry staring back for a full minute. Once she did, she looked away for a moment before coming back to them, after which Harry raised a questioning eyebrow. Ginny pretended to still be practicing her transfiguration while looking through Harry's eyes and watching Hermione as she came over to sit next to them.

"I was just wondering why you're practicing a transfiguration you already know," Hermione explained sheepishly.

Ginny shrugged. "McGonagall said it wasn't perfect." She changed the piece of wood back into the book, which Hermione picked up and flipped through.

"It looks fine to me."

"She said that it was forced and I wasn't using the right technique." Ginny sighed. "And she's right."

Hermione looked over the book once again, but Harry doubted she could find any physical flaws in it. He hadn't been able to, at least. "What does that mean?"

"It means that not all of us are like you and do everything the proper way," Ginny replied irritably. She waved her wand curtly and the book transformed back into a perfect piece of wood. "There's nothing wrong with that transfiguration!"

Hermione looked between Ginny and Harry and Harry knew she wanted to say something about Ginny's wand motion, but thankfully she laid off. "If you aren't doing it properly, then why does it work?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Because apparently I can force it to do what I want it to, because I have lots of magical potential." Harry both heard and felt the sarcasm dripping off of the last phrase, but didn't comment on it.

"What do you mean? Have you had this problem before?"

Ginny sighed and waved her wand without incanting. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried it again and Harry could feel even more frustration building. "Oh bugger it. _Lumos!_"

Muggleborn witches and wizards said that the lighting spell was a lot like a flashlight. If that was true, then what Ginny produced could only be described as a spotlight. Even Ginny seemed a little surprised at the huge cone of light that issued from her wand, made a huge, perfect circle on the opposite wall, and drew the attention of almost everyone in the common room. She immediately whispered the counterspell and it disappeared like nothing had happened.

"See what I mean? I can usually do it non-verbally."

Hermione blinked. "You can do non-verbal magic?"

"Apparently. I didn't even know until this week."

"What do you mean you didn't know?"

Harry could tell that all of the questions were really starting to annoy Ginny, so he stepped in. "She means she doesn't know what's going on, no matter how many times you ask her."

Ginny reached back with her non-wand arm and squeezed his hand in silent appreciation. Hermione turned a little pink in embarrassment, but she didn't back down. "Well, I have a theory if you want to hear it."

Harry wasn't sure Ginny would want to, but he was curious. "Go on."

"You're being more affectionate toward each other and I suppose that brings you together on an emotional level, which could be opening your connection more. If your souls really are merging, then another barrier could have been broken when you got together."

Harry blinked. "You came up with that just now?"

She shifted uncomfortably. "Not exactly."

"You've been watching us to see if anything changes, haven't you?" Ginny's tone was borderline accusatory, and judging by Hermione's non-answer, was very close to the mark.

"So I guess you haven't been the only one watching people," Harry teased with his eyes on Ginny. That earned him a silencing glare. Hermione looked between them questioningly, but thankfully didn't ask.

By then, people had started to wander over and ask about the lighting charm, so their conversation was ended and Ginny had to explain how and why she put a spotlight on the wall of the common room. No one, especially Fred and George, seemed to believe it was an accident even though Ginny told everyone the truth. Although all of the attention made Ginny annoyed, Harry was privately glad it was her instead of him.

--

Friday morning brought nothing of consequence as it passed into lunch, which was only odd in that Ginny sat with a bunch of her second year friends and Harry chose to sit with Ron and Hermione. Harry could tell she was rather split on the matter, since she didn't want to lose their friendship, but being with him and even Ron and Hermione was a lot more fun. No one could blame her though; her friends talked about makeup and politics of the second years while Harry, Ron, and Hermione managed to be at the center of any major events, such as the Philosopher's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, and the Sirius Black affair. Well, Ginny was at the center of the Chamber of Secrets as well, but that was hardly something to smile about.

However, at dinner Ginny made a point of sitting next to him and generally getting as close to him as possible. She was feeling extremely affectionate that evening, so much so that Harry pushed aside her empty plate and resigned to share one with her. Ron made a face at the entire thing, but Harry was much relieved when he didn't say anything. He did catch Hermione giving Ron a couple funny looks, so he might have not had a choice in the matter.

Harry was just about to ask Ginny if she was ready to go back up to the common room when Professor McGonagall swept to a stop behind them. Harry turned and gave his Transfiguration Professor an curious (and respectful) look.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley." She nodded at each in turn. "The Headmaster would like to see both of you in his office as soon as you are finished."

Harry blinked. "Both of us?"

McGonagall's lips thinned. "Yes, both of you. I suggest you not keep him waiting." With that, she swept away and through the main entrance to the Great Hall. Harry turned back to find both Ron and Hermione with inquisitive looks, which did not combine well with his and Ginny's sense of trepidation.

"What would Professor Dumbledore want to see you about?" Hermione asked immediately. Harry shrugged; he hadn't a clue.

"I guess we better get going then," Ginny said, pulling gently on Harry's arm. It was clear she didn't want to talk about it, even though he could tell she was as confused as the rest of them. Harry stood with her and walked with Ron and Hermione until they had to split off toward the Headmaster's office. Harry wondered how they were supposed to get in, but that proved to be a non-issue when the gargoyle jumped aside and allowed them passage when they approached.

The inside of Dumbledore's office looked the same as Harry remembered it always being, and by extension Ginny remembered it being as well. He could tell it was an odd feeling for her to know intellectually that she hadn't been in the office more than once, but it was as familiar to her as it was to him. The only major difference Harry noticed was Fawkes's absence from his usual perch. Harry figured the phoenix must go out flying at times, but this was the first time he'd ever not seen the bird.

Dumbledore looked as serene and cheerful as ever, his eyes twinkling over those half-moon spectacles. It was a little disconcerting for the Headmaster to be so positive; it meant that things were going his way and judging by how manipulative the man was, Harry wondered if something was being hidden from him. The thought was unusual in that he wasn't sure where it had come from, other than Ginny tightened considerably upon laying eyes on Dumbledore. In a rather confusing moment, Harry realized he had no idea why she would react that way.

"Hello Professor," Harry greeted, causing the old man to look up from his desk.

"Hello Harry, Miss Weasley. Do have a seat." He waved his hand to the two cushy armchairs in front of his desk, which Harry and Ginny took without a word. Harry felt Ginny start to move toward his armchair, but she thought better of it and contented herself with holding his hand even after they were seated.

"Miss Weasley, have you shared with Harry what I explained to you about the nature of your wand?"

It took a few moments for both of them to figure out what he was talking about, but eventually Ginny nodded. At the beginning of the school year, Dumbledore had told Ginny that the phoenix that gave the tail feather for Ginny's wand core shared a special relationship with Fawkes, who had given the tail feathers for Harry's and Voldemort's wands. "Yes, Professor."

"May I ask if either of you have studied wand lore?"

Harry blinked. "Should we have?" Ginny didn't answer, but the blank expression on her face said it all.

"No, nothing of the sort. I wouldn't expect students of your age to be interested in that sort of thing. Suffice to say, it is an ancient and mysterious study and not even the most learned scholars in the field know even half of everything. Hence, what I am about to tell you is merely educated guess based on the things we know are true." Dumbledore paused to make sure both of them were following, and then continued.

"I suspect that a very powerful magical connection exists between you both. Both Professors Flitwick and McGonagall have reported to me a sudden flux of magical power in your spells, Miss Weasley, and I believe that it may be due to this magical connection you share with Mr. Potter."

_Bit slow, isn't he?_ Ginny said, her tone biting. Harry wondered what made her so irritated; as far as he knew, the Headmaster had done nothing wrong. "What does that have to do with our wands?"

Dumbledore smiled. "You see, Harry, Fawkes and the phoenix that gave the feather that is now a part of Miss Weasley's wand were mated. Professor Hagrid probably has not covered phoenixes in your Care of Magical Creatures lessons, but two phoenixes becoming mates is a monumental event. Because phoenixes are reborn from their ashes, the bond formed between the two individuals lasts for all of eternity."

"I still don't see how that means anything, Professor," Ginny said. She was getting more and more impatient, despite Harry's attempts to internally soothe her irritation.

"You are aware that phoenixes are magical creatures, and thus, a bond between two magical creatures is not simply physical. Other magical creatures, such as dragons, share similar characteristics in their mating, but nothing as prominent as the phoenix. When two magical creatures mate, their presence is no longer two separate entities, but two souls that are combined by a flow of magic between them."

_That_ caught their attention. "What's different about the phoenix?" Ginny asked softly.

Dumbledore smiled. "A very good question, and the heart of the matter. When two phoenixes mate, it is not enough for their souls to share a flow of magic between them. Over time, an entirely new presence is born, not within either of the phoenixes, but as a combination of the two. This third soul draws from the other two, and a delicate balance is struck." As he spoke, Dumbledore used his wand to draw two golden circles in the air. As he explained, the two circles started to become smaller as a third between them expanded, eventually becoming twice the size of the two outer circles. Harry couldn't help but be transfixed to the diagram before him, wondering if that was exactly what was happening between himself and Ginny.

"You think this is happening to us?" Ginny whispered. Harry couldn't find his voice enough to speak.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Not at all. I think a bonding of that nature would cause a great many things to happen between the two of you that are quite unexplainable and would be apparent from the very beginning."

It was all Harry could do not to turn to stare into Ginny's eyes. Finally they knew for a fact what was going on between them, though Dumbledore hadn't a clue. He might have been astonished that he could pull something over on the Headmaster like that, but he was too wrapped up in everything else. He gulped.

"What does it mean then?"

"Another good question, and the reason I asked you here tonight. I would like to find out the answer."

Harry blinked as the golden diagram was washed away. "How can we help?"

"I'm sure the experience is not something you would like to relive, but can you think back to Halloween and describe how you knew of the attack on Miss Weasley?"

Harry's insides froze and he could feel Ginny looked at him in slight horror. They were in a very dangerous situation and one wrong step could mean disaster. "Er..." He dropped off, unsure of what to say. "It was just a feeling. Like..." _Like being hungry. _"Like being hungry." Somehow, he was able to speak Ginny's thought without confusion passing over his face.

"Hungry?" Dumbledore questioned.

Slowly, Harry understood what Ginny was getting at. "It was like suddenly realizing you haven't eaten since breakfast and it's dinner time. It just hits you." He felt more like he was speaking for Ginny, but that was fine with him. She was the better liar anyway.

"And you knew Miss Weasley was going to be attacked? How did you know where to find her?"

Harry breathed an internal sigh of relief. He didn't have to lie for that one. "I came down to the feast and she was going to shower and come down after me, so I ran back up to Gryffindor Tower."

Dumbledore nodded and seemed to accept his explanation. "You didn't experience any visions or anything of the sort?"

"No, Professor," Harry said, probably a little too quickly because Dumbledore's eyebrow arched.

_You were scared for me and my life flashed before your eyes._

"Well..." Harry sighed, realizing exactly how true Ginny's words were. "I saw Ginny's life flash before my eyes."

For a moment Dumbledore seemed content to leave the room in silence. "That is not uncommon in a life or death situation. Did you know Miss Weasley's life was in danger?"

"Yes."

"And how did you know this?"

Harry felt a flash of irritation that he quickly quelled. "I just knew."

Dumbledore ran a long-fingered hand over his beard, obviously thinking. Harry would have given a generous amount of Galleons to know what was going through the Headmaster's mind at that exact moment, but he was as unreadable as stone. "While we are speaking, would either of you mind if I cast a few simple spells to test the connection between you?"

Harry immediately wanted to say yes, but Ginny gave the mental equivalent of a sharp elbow to the ribs as she shook her head. "I don't." Harry shook his head as well, though he didn't think it was a good idea at all.

_Don't look guilty._

"You were very protective of Miss Weasley after the incident. Was this a compulsory behavior?"

"Compulsory, sir?"

Dumbledore waved his wand and concentrated, but as far as Harry could tell, nothing was happening. "Was it an irresistible urge that she be defended, or was it a choice made freely?"

For the first time, Ginny answered. "Wouldn't that be the same thing, Professor?"

Dumbledore's wand froze as he glanced at Ginny. "It is possible that a magical connection would cause a certain instinctual protectiveness that would overrule logic. If that is the case, then it should be noted that when one of you is in danger, the other may react irrationally or violently. Such reactions are not healthy and should be addressed."

Harry didn't bother trying to stop Ginny from feeling angry, especially since he wasn't sure who was more incensed at the Headmaster at the moment. For all intents and purposes, they felt as though Dumbledore had just threatened them and tried to tell them that they couldn't take care of each other. Harry let his temper get the best of him.

"I'm sorry if I feel protective of someone who was inches from death, _Professor_." Even Harry was slightly surprised at how much contempt was loaded into the last word. He got a perverse sort of satisfaction from seeing shock pass over Dumbledore's face before it was retrained into passivity.

"I suppose we have an answer," Dumbledore said quietly. Harry refused to feel bad about proving the Headmaster right, but Ginny was right as well. He wanted to and chose to protect her, to feel responsible for her, to react violently. She squeezed his hand gently, trying to calm him, but with only slight success. Dumbledore seemed caught up in his spells, giving Harry a blessed few moments to talk to Ginny.

_To think I was actually wondering if telling him would be a good idea._ The bitterness in Harry's voice was evident.

_I know how you feel_, Ginny responded. _I just wish he wasn't so controlling. I know he means well, but I don't want him to manipulate us too._

Harry sighed and leaned back into his chair, letting Ginny's hand drop in favor of rubbing his forehead. _It's infuriating how much he just expects us to tell him and trust him. As if he knows anything about having a Soulmate._

_He is a great wizard and there's a reason everyone respects him,_ Ginny replied. _You don't think it's wrong not to trust him?_

That question was getting easier and easier to answer. It had started with the attempts to probe Ginny's mind and spiraled down from there, his feelings most recently being reinforced by asking McGonagall to do his research for him. _I don't think he cares about our feelings Ginny. He wants the best for everyone, but I think if we told him I would feel more like a chess piece than a person._

He didn't need Ginny to say anything to feel her agreement. He looked up to find Dumbledore watching them both with a curious expression, as if trying to figure out something. Harry hoped they hadn't been too obvious about their mental conversation.

"Unfortunately, the cursory spells I have been able to perform have indicated that no magical bond exists between you. Would you be willing to meet again in a month's time after I have had time to research more on the subject?"

"I will," Ginny said immediately, and shot a meaningful look at Harry.

"I guess."

"Excellent. Now, if there is nothing more, I'm sure Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger will want to question all about our visit." Dumbledore's beard twitched and Harry couldn't help but feel a little guilty for his anger. He had no doubts Dumbledore was a great man; just his methods were bothersome.

"Actually, Professor, I was wondering if I could speak with you. Alone."

Harry blinked at her even as Dumbledore replied, "Of course, Miss Weasley. I'm sure Mr. Potter wouldn't mind waiting outside for a few moments." Trapped, Harry had no choice but to nod curtly and leave the room, wondering what exactly Ginny wanted to talk about. He shut his mind down to give her the privacy she wanted, but it didn't settle his nerves even as he took a seat next to the gargoyle, who was not at all comforting in the stony silence.

A minute passed before Harry realized that Ginny was on the verge of screaming. He could feel righteous anger coursing through her and he tried to ignore it. When it didn't settle down for another fifteen seconds, he closed his eyes and prayed Ginny would forgive him.

"—how can you even THINK about sending him back there?!" Ginny's voice was as tight as a rope.

"As I have explained to Mr. Potter, he is safe with his relatives. I cannot guarantee that anywhere else."

"Because Voldemort is suddenly going to pop out of the ground to kill him?"

Harry felt a deep depression once he realized what Ginny was angry about. They hadn't talked much about his memories of his childhood, but it was clear that she hadn't let them go by unnoticed. Part of him felt warm and loved by her anger on his behalf, but it really wasn't worth fighting with Dumbledore over. She wouldn't win, and even if she did, where would he go? He supposed Mrs. Weasley would have him at The Burrow, but that seemed an awful lot like imposing.

"If you remember, not all of Lord Voldemort's servants are accounted for."

If anything, Ginny's anger darkened. "If Peter wants to come after Harry, let him. I'll kill him myself."

Harry heart froze. It wasn't the words that caused the ice to shoot through his veins, but the feeling behind them. It was the same feeling he'd felt when thinking about Sirius Black after Ginny had been attacked. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that Ginny would follow through with her threat.

"Be that as it may, Miss Weasley, it would be better if Mr. Pettigrew did not reach Harry at all. This decision is not up for debate and I urge you to examine your feelings on the matter. Perhaps it would be wise for you to take a step back and allow yourself to think objectively."

Harry heard a soft _thunk_ and he had the horrible feeling that Ginny had deliberately taken a step forward and leaned against her hands on the Headmaster's desk. He chanced a brief look through Ginny's eyes and saw that she was staring straight into Dumbledore's soft blue orbs.

"I am thinking objectively, Professor." Her voice was ice cold. "I would do anything to protect Harry, and if there was any way I could keep him away from his aunt and uncle, I would. Voldemort isn't the only thing he needs to be protected from." She didn't even wait for a response. Harry slipped away from her hearing and vision as she turned on her heel and marched out of the Headmaster's door and looked almost surprised to find him waiting. She immediately stepped into him and wrapped his arms around his chest, her nose burrowing into his shoulder as soft sobs began escaping her lips. Harry returned her embrace and held her against him, unsure of what to do or say other than hold her and whisper that everything would be all right.

* * *

_**A/N:** Thanks as always to Will for the awesome beta work, and also to all of you who review._

_For those of you who are curious, I will be publishing a one-shot Interlude from Dumbledore's point of view that will provide some wise old man insight into Harry and Ginny's attitudes. It's difficult showing what everyone else thinks from Harry's PoV, so I think a suppliment is needed._

_I hope to see ya on the review page! :P_


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